The Toa Rahini Chronicles: the Beginning
by Half-Angel-Writer
Summary: Toa in danger. Shadows beckon. Destiny calls. The newest team of heroes awakens. This is only the beginning. Rated T for mild swearing. My first FanFic, please review.
1. Prolouge

**A/N: Hi, this is Half-Angel-Writer, but you can call me Angel. I also will respond to "hey You" or whatever.**

**Anyway… This is my first story and, yeah it's kinda silly. It started as an English assignment.**

**Please review, and if you flame, I will uses it to cook bacon. The chapter is kind of an intro….**

**So without further ado… here is chapter one**

_*Opening to darkness. A girl's voice echoing slightly "Listen my friends to another tale of the Bionicle. In a time before time, in a land far away, there was the Bionicle. There are many legends about the Bionicle, as there are many heroes, like the Toa Nuva." *echoing fades away._

An explosion of fire fills the night sky. The village of Ta-Koro was in full celebration, as were the other villages around the Island. It was a celebration for the valiant efforts of all the Toa, past and present and their parts in what some were calling "The Great Awakening". The Turaga had begun these celebrations to lift everyone's spirits and to bring back laughter to the Island of Mata Nui, amidst the darkness of Makuta's reign over them. Currently, in Ta-Koro, the lava-surfing contests had just finished, but there were some who wished to show off to the Matoren. Ta-Matoren crowded in and filled the carved lava-rock grandstands to capacity, the overflow gathering on the sides of the lava-flow. Tahu Nuva, the oldest Toa of Fire, coasted down a rise in the lava swells and launched himself off the edge of a lava-fall. These particular falls were higher than any but the bravest and most daring Matoren attempted to jump, but the Toa made it look like a walk on the beach. The Ta-Matoren watched, gasping in amazement, as the red and silver Toa twisted in the air overhead. The jump seemed to last an eternity, and it seemed the Hero would crash into the Lava below. With a sluggish splash, Tahu landed, his custom made board, fashioned out of his Twin Magma Blades, gliding through the fiery waves with ease. He made his way back to the far shore, where two other figures stood waiting. Behind him, the Ta-Matoren went wild, cheering and chanting "Tahu! Tahu! Tahu!", their cheers echoing through the carved out volcano caldera. As he neared the shore, he flipped himself up and landed on the hardened lava rock that made up the shore line. The two other figures stepped up beside him and waved to the Matoren in the makeshift stands.

"Good job Brother!" Said the golden armored Toa on Tahu's left. This was Takanuva, the Toa of Light. Once an Av-Matoran from Karda-Nui who had been sent to live in Metru Nui for some seemingly unknown reason, he was the youngest of the Toa Nuva, but though young, he was still older than the Toa Mahri/Inika. Which brings us to Tahu's other companion, the solid crimson Toa Jaller, at the moment, the Toa Inika of Fire. Tentatively the youngest Fire Toa held out his fist to Tahu, offering the typical Toa salute. The big red Toa fist-bumped Jaller's fist then Takanuva's, all three chuckling at the cat calls and cheers the Matoren yelled at them. Suddenly a couple of the younger Ta-Matoren ran up behind them, calling out. The three Toa turned. The Ta-Matoren held out autograph slates and pens to the Toa. Tahu and Takanuva, used to this, took the slates without hesitation and signed them. Then they handed them to Jaller, who looked at the others curiously, his expression one of _what-am-I-supposed-to-do-with-this_. The older two Toa looked at each other and burst out laughing. Jaller, sheepishly, signed the two slates then handed them back to the waiting Matoren, who giggled themselves and ran off. Jaller turned to the older two Toa, his crimson mask more red than usual. Takanuva clapped a hand on the young fire Toa's, still chuckling. Tahu, a grin stretched across his mask, started back toward his Suva. "I still feel like an over grown Matoran." Jaller mumbled to no one in particular, as he followed the other two Toa. He stopped just outside the Suva and bid Tahu and Takanuva good-by; he had to head back to the seaside to meet up with the rest of his team to head back to Mahri Nui. Tahu waved farewell and ducked inside quickly, Takanuva waited, waving, until the younger Toa was out of sight then headed inside himself.

"Well, Brother, I think you beat me yet again." The Toa of Light admitted, as he walked into the Suva. Tahu looked over his shoulder and grinned again.

"You didn't do so bad yourself, for being a Light Toa." He said, reaching into the obsidian cabinets where he kept some of his food supplies. Takanuva grimaced as he sat down at the polished counter.

"I'm pretty sure that I thought that I was a Ta-Matoren for a couple thousand years there, Tahu." He groused, shrugging his golden armored shoulders. "I picked up a thing or two as the Chronicler. I know how to Lava-surf as well as surf on water." Tahu laughed at that.

"You only learned to surf on water to impress the Ga-Matoren." Tahu chuckled, divvying up the food and hand half to Takanuva. Takanuva took his share and pretended to pout, his golden mask tinged with red.

Neither Toa noticed that the light outside the Suva's window diminished. Tahu settled down to eat, but Takanuva jumped to his feet, his powers warning him of approaching danger. Tahu looked up.

"What is it?" He asked, his eyes flashing from side to side, body tense. Experience had taught the once impulsive and short tempered Toa of Fire many things; taking someone else's alarm into account was one of them. Takanuva shrugged slightly.

"I'm not sure. I feel a large gathering of Shadow power nearby, but it doesn't feel like Makuta… It's different." Tahu's eyes narrowed in response. The two Toa looked out of the doorway of the Ta-Suva, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Behind them, the entryway to the interior room of the Suva darkened as a shadowy form rose up. Takanuva, belatedly feeling the presence of Shadows, turned; Tahu mimicking his movements. Both realized that they were trapped and both Toa drew their tools, but before they could react farther than that, the shadows plunged downward and the two were overwhelmed.

Along the coast line, near Ga-Metru, Gali Nuva watched as Hahli waved good-by as she and the other Toa Inika changed into their Toa Mahri forms and dove beneath the waves. Their home, Mahri Nui, was farther away than Metru Nui, and, when it had been released from Voya Nui, it had settled on the ocean floor somewhat lopsided. Half the island was still submerged and the Mahri Nui Matoren still lived there, while the Voya Nui Matoren lived on the above-water portion.

As she walked back to her village, Gali thought about the young Matoren-turned-Toa. She had not seen Hahli and her brothers look so happy; not since they had lost their brother, Matoro, the Inika of Ice. Matoro had heroically sacrificed himself to save the Great Spirit. In return, the Great Spirit, using the Mask of Life, Ignika, had brought Matoro back only moments before Makuta took over and Mata Nui was trapped within the Mask of Life itself. Since the return of their fallen comrade, Hahli and her brothers' spirits had improved immensely.

As Gali walked along, lost in her thoughts, she was oblivious to a thick stream of shadows behind her. As the twin suns, low over the horizon, broke through the clouds, sending beams of orange and red shooting across the darkening sky, Gali heard the shadow hiss at the light that hit it. Almost without thinking, she spun around, blasting a pressurized stream of water out of her hand. The Shadow recoiled a moment, reacting to the refracted light that glittered through the water then continued to spread toward the female Toa. She dove to the side, just missing the shadows that grabbed at her. Gali turned to run deeper into the jungle, but the shadows ran around her, effectively trapping the blue water spirit. Gali let out a cry of pain as the shadows collapsed on her and shocked her with energy until she was rendered unconscious.

* * *

><p>In the trees above Le-Koro, Lewa Nuva was teaching some of the younger Matoren about the dangers (and thrills) of Downdrafts and Updrafts, when he heard the slow footfalls of Turaga Matau behind him. The green Air Toa dismissed his class, and turned to the Elder, who waited patiently behind him. Matau smiled wanly up at the tall Toa, who took a seat beside him.<p>

"I have some worry-some news, Toa-Hero." The Turaga said. He then told Lewa about the noises that some of the Matoren had been coming to his and telling him about. Lewa smiled, thinking it was one of Matau's tricks again.

"Normally I would not worry-trouble myself or you, Lewa, about such things, but I have a feeling that there truly is something in the forest below. Ah, perhaps it is the imagination of an old fool." Matau said. Lewa chuckled.

"A very-much good scary story, Turaga-elder." The green Toa said. "But I have had enough life-time to get used to your trick-games." The old Turaga opened his mouth to say something, but was unable to do so. The sound of whistling wind hurtled through the tree tops and the former Toa Metru was struck from behind, and toppled forward, unconscious. Lewa cried out in surprise, and placed himself protectively over his elder.

When Matau awoke, sometime later, Lewa was gone. There were traces of a struggle through out the trees, so small that to the untrained eye they were imperceptible, but to a former Toa, were as clear as daylight. The free-flying Toa Nuva of Air was one; Toa-knapped by the looks of it.

"Lewa…" whispered the old one.

* * *

><p>"Are you going to stare at the sky all night there, brother?"<p>

"He will, just to annoy us, you know."

*silence

"I can see why Tahu wants to strangle him some times. He doesn't make any noise what-so-ever."

*Whack* "OW!"

"Ahahahahaha! Nice going Pohatu"

"Will you two please shut the hell up? I'm trying to look at something."

A silver-and-white Toa stood staring up at the sky, where the stars were wheeling overhead. Behind him, a tall black-and-grey figure was doubled over in laughter while a brown-and-tan figure sprawled on the ground, mask askew, muttering to himself. Kopaka Nuva sighed, then turned to his brothers, mask-ridge raised critically. Pohatu Nuva pulled himself to his feet and adjusted his mask, grinning slightly. Onua Nuva, the big black Toa, slowly recovered his quiet demeanor, after laughing at Pohatu who had been punched in the mask by Kopaka. Onua wished there was some way to preserve that moment forever; the look on Kopaka's face was priceless, while the look of shock on Pohatu's was hilarious. The silver-white Toa glared at his brothers, then sighed again, his anger fading. Poahtu, noticing the change, sobered up and looked at Kopaka.

"What is it, brother? Is something wrong?" Pohatu asked, worried. Kopaka thought a moment, then turned to his brothers.

"Do you remember that strange quests that Turaga Vakama sent us on, I believe it was about six months ago, just before we set out from Metru Nui?" Pohatu and Onua nodded. "Well, it seems the rest of that prophecy from Turaga Vakama's vision about those quests is coming true. And the rest of that prophecy will come to completion very quickly." Pohatu and Onua looked at each other, almost afraid. They remembered Turaga Vakama's look of fear and worry when he had first begun to see those visions. The Toa Nuva had been told that they would be in grave danger and have to be rescued by the Destiny Heroes from enemies that would be as formidable as Makuta Teridax and the rest of the Brotherhood of Makuta. As the three Toa Nuva thought this over, a sudden darkness covered the scene, and a large shadow passed over them. They had no warning, no time to react. There was an energy discharge and the Toa were gone.

* * *

><p>The Island of Mata Nui was without its protectors once again. Thankfully, it would not be long before the Toa Nuva would be Rescued. Already, forces were in motion that would bring an unlikely group of friends together to save a Universe in Peril.<p>

* * *

><p>Across the sea, at the ruined Great Temple of Metru Nui, an odd swirling vortex opened and a young teenager stepped through and looked around.<p>

"Oh no freaking way!"

**Ok so the beginning is not the best… I'm working on another chapter right now.**

**And if you have any ideas or suggestions, I would love to hear them!**

**See the pretty button at the bottom? Please press it!**

**Edit 3/31/12: I was able to write in a little more information to make this chapter a little longer. I hope it flows a little better now.  
><strong>


	2. Lizzy

**A/N: Hi I'm back. Sorry it took so long, it took a while to get this ready to be posted.**

**And I realized that the last chapter did not have a disclaimer. Whoops. I don't own Bionicle. If I did there would be more to the story. I only own my OCs. There happy now, Scary Lawyer People? Good.**

**Ok, that's done and now On With The Show!**

*An Hour Earlier*

Elizabeth Toren looked up from her seat high in a tree, in the backyard of the orphanage where she lived and worked. The backyard was clear of young children for once and was peaceful and silent. She sighed and set down her sketch pad on the flattened shelf-like branch of the old oak tree.

_My job is never done,_she thought. Carefully she stood, grabbed the top-most rung of the ladder embedded in the tree, swung herself out and climbed down. She jumped off, falling 5 feet to the ground. Almost no one at the orphanage knew about her hiding place in the oak tree, and few people would have been able to climb up to it. She strode over to the main lawn of the back yard and started grabbing the toys and clothing, dishes and other assorted objects that were strewn across the yard. Once the stuff was gathered, she began the slow process of hauling it all back inside. Carefully she stacked the toys back in their proper places, put books back on the shelves, took all the dirty clothes and blankets to the laundry room and placed the cups and empty bowls in the sink.

As she was heading back out, Mrs. Keats, the woman who ran the orphanage, called to her.

"Lizzy? I have to go to the drugstore. Anna's cough is worse. Do you need anything?"

"Just my sanity and a family." Elizabeth muttered under her breath, then she said, louder so that the woman could hear her, "No I think I'm good, for right now."

"Alright then, I'll be back soon."

"Ok."

Lizzy sighed, grabbed the room monitor for the younger children's room and headed back outside. Once she was back at in her tree, she looked back at the Orphanage, where she had been staying for the last eight and a half years. St. Dominic's Orphanage was a small place, started by the local Diocese, the newest in the city. Lizzy had been one of the first to live there, after gone through foster care since the age of two. The orphanage looked like a normal house, tucked away between two industrial buildings. Lizzy sighed, thinking of the enormous amount of upkeep that Mrs. Keats, Myrna, the little Spanish girl who worked there too, and herself had to do in order to keep the place running. At the moment, there were twelve other children other children who lived at St. Dominic's, full time. Lizzy lived there also, she was the oldest at 16-and-a-half years, and she was paid, by the Diocese to work there. In all the years that she had been as Saint Dom's, she had only seen one family that had shown interest in adopting her. Lizzy had been hopeful that this was the Family. She had seen many kids come and go, and was worried that she would never be adopted. Sadly the family lost interest, when they had seen Lizzy telling stories to the younger kids. Apparently, this particular family disapproved of any type of fictional stories, like fairy-tales and even comics. Lizzy had laughed at that, with Mrs. Keats.

So Lizzy had stayed at St. Dominic's, working, cleaning and helping other kids to find homes. She was happy, mostly, and did her job well. She did wish, from time to time, that she could get away.

Then, it happened.

A strange swirling vortex opened up in the backyard, about ten feet from Lizzy's tree. Out of the vortex fell a stone tablet. Lizzy climbed down and inched over to the vortex, wary of the green swirling thing. She grabbed the stone and retreated. When she looked at it, it was covered in strange symbols. Lizzy gasped and scrambled back up the tree, grabbed and paper and started to shuffle through a stack of papers. She had recognized the symbols; they were Matoran. Lizzy was a Bionicle nut, she loved the whole thing especially the story. She could recite the stories, (Books, Movies, Comics, you name it) from memory.

Finally she found what she was looking for; a sheet of paper covered in the Matoran Alphabet. She had figured most of it out from different places. She carefully compared the tablet to the paper and wrote it down. Below the vortex swirled on, heedless of its surroundings.

Lizzy finished translating the stone and read her work.

It read: Destin_ is in need of heroes. _ou are well _ersed in the Bionicle tale and your unwa_ering sense of Lo_alt_ have led to _ou being chosen to be a hero. Pack _our bags, Eli_abeth Toren, _ou ha_e a long trip ahead.

Lizzy narrowed her eyes. Her Alphabet was incomplete; missing "m" "v" "y" and "z" but the message was discernible. She grabbed her sketchpad, all of her incomplete manuscripts (She did a lot of creative writing), shoved it all in her backpack and climbed down the tree again. She ran inside the house and ran to her room. She pulled a decent sized grey duffel bag from underneath her bed and threw a bunch of clothes and toiletries inside, then ran downstairs again. She wrote a note for Mrs. Keats, telling her not to worry about her, that she wanted to see the world and get away from the orphanage; she would come back if she could and she left all her money in her account, begging Mrs. Keats to use it to hire some new help (She wouldn't need it where she was going). Lizzy also left a list of the things that Mrs. Keats should know about each of the kids and what else needed to be done around the house. Then she said farewell and good luck.

Lizzy taped her letter to the fridge, grabbed her snow boots and hiking boots, shoved them in her bag, and left the house. She stood in front of the vortex and took a deep breathe. She wasn't sure what she would find on the other side, but she didn't really care. This was her chance to leave.

The teenager walked forward and stepped into the vortex. Behind her, Mrs. Keats watched from the doorway, a smile on her face, Lizzy's letter in her hand.

"Good bye, Lizzy." She whispered, "I hope you find a family."

*Inside the vortex*

Lizzy floated along, staring around her, as the streaks of green and white traveled past. She thought she heard voices, like listening to one of the Bionicle movies. Then she saw something, and angled herself so that she would float over, closer to it.

It was like a window, or a TV screen. In it she saw a small girl, climbing out of a car. It was dark, but Lizzy could just barely make out the shapes of boxes and stuff piled up. "A garage," She muttered, "Why does it look familiar?" Lizzy watched as the toddler, no more than two years old, walked slowly to the open door that led to the house, through which could be seen a happy couple, holding a baby, laughter floating through the door.

Suddenly, the door slammed shut and the light vanished. The child gasped, and spun around, too fast for her little legs. She fell on her butt and froze. In front of her loomed a pair of blood red eyes and a voice, dripping with malice and evil, whispered to the girl.

"Come little one… Embrace the darkness… Join me…"

The girl whimpered a little, scared. There was no movement, no sound for a moment. Then a tendril of darkness reached out, grasping, the toddler cringing away, tears coursing down her face now. Behind her, there was a flash of light, silhouetting the child and a tall bright figure stepped forward. The red eyes vanished a moment, then came back as the voice spoke again, this time in a different language. The bright figure responded in kind, and then gestured with its hand. A beam of white light shot out and lit up the darkness. The eyes vanished. The child stared up from the floor, wondering, up at the figure behind her. The figure stopped glowing brightly and revealed itself to be Takanuva, the Toa of light. The little girl, seemingly unafraid now, reached up toward the Toa. He leaned down and picked her up, a gentle smile on his mask. The little girl grinned and hugged him around the neck. Takanuva looked surprised, then gently hugged back.

"Tank Yew." The little girl said.

"You're Welcome, little one." The gold and white Toa chuckled. (Lizzy giggled herself watching this; the little girl's voice was so cute.) "Here, I have something for you." Takanuva set the little girl down then knelt on one knee. He reached behind him and pulled something out of his subspace pocket, where he kept his staff, then held out his hand. Resting on his hand was a necklace with a charm on it, a glass oval that seemed to glow from within. The little girl took it, shook it, and looked at it for a long moment. She then looked up and grinned at the Toa.

"It's pwetty." She said. Takanuva smiled again.

"Promise me that you will always wear it, okay? So that those scary eyes don't come back."

"Okay!" Another grin.

"Good, now let's get you inside." The little girl grabbed his hand, and pulled him to the door. She clambered up the stairs and banged on the door.

"Mommy, Mommy. Look at what I have."

The door opened with a jerk, and the little girl's mother picked up the little girl.

"Lizzy, darling, are you ok?"

The screen went blank. Lizzy stared at it, even as she began to float away.

"What was that?" She whispered. She then reached into her pocket and pulled out a necklace, the necklace with the charm, still glowing, hanging off of it.

_I had forgotten where I got this. _She thought, _that must have been one of my memories._

"It was." Said a deep voice. Lizzy jumped and spun around.

"Who's there?" She demanded. She gasped as she felt herself being lowered down, and then felt her feet land on something solid. She let her knees bend, and lowered herself to the ground. She glanced warily around, looking for the source of the voice, but all she saw was nothing; just a blank white space all around.

"You don't seem scared." The voice said. "The others were very frightened."

"The others?" Lizzy asked

"Yes, the others who answered Destiny's call for heroes."

"I know that voice," Lizzy muttered, then called out "Who are you?"

"Have you not guessed? You have heard it before, I believe."

"Mata Nui!" Lizzy breathed, "But I thought you were trapped in the Mask of Life and on Bara Magna?" The voice chuckled.

"Smart Girl. I am not yet anywhere. I am currently trapped in the Mask and hurtling through space. But that is not why you are here. Are you ready to meet your Destiny?"

"I-I… yes, I am. I want to meet the Toa." Lizzy said, eyes bright with eagerness and anticipation.

"Then let me show you." Lizzy turned as a group of figures appeared to her left. There were eight of them, a team of Toa, recognizable by their colors, and two others, a Gold and White figure and a Grey and Purple one. The Toa looked at each other, then looked at the Gold one.

_This one is yours, sister._

Lizzy shivered as she heard the voices, not with her ears but within her mind. The Golden one smiled and came closer to Lizzy, who jumped up, while the other Toa faded away behind her.

_Greetings, little one. My name is Takaena. I am the Toa Atriz of Light. My team and I no longer linger on the land. We were killed in a great battle long ago, before the Toa that you know came to be. But I have been searching for a worthy being to pass my power on to. I will give you my power if you accept it. _

"I guess I accept. It would be a great honor and a huge responsibility to be your successor" Lizzy said softly, "But I have one question. Why do you have the Mask of Light?"

_All in due time, young one._The old one smile gently,_Do you still have the necklace that Takanuva gave to you? Yes? Good. That will become your heart-light, and holds my power. It is very special. Good Luck on your journey, little light._ The old Toa said as she faded away. Lizzy was left alone, standing by herself.

"Well that went well." Said the disembodied voice of Mata Nui.

"I don't understand. I thought Makuta Teridax had taken over, that's why you left."

"Yes little one, but the Toa Nuva have retreated to the Island of Mata Nui. There is a lingering protection there, that keeps Makuta from taking over. The Toa Inika are guarding Mahri Nui. But the Toa Nuva have vanished. And that is why I need you. The Atriz have been gone for almost a millennia and their power is very strong. If you can learn to use it, the Nuva have a chance of being rescued."

Lizzy nodded and smiled.

"Good luck to you on your travels then, O Great Spirit."

"Yes, thank you."

Behind Lizzy, another vortex opened up. She walked over to it. Just before she stepped into it she glanced back.

"Oh and when you get to where you are going, remember this: There are Toa everywhere, they may just not know it or they may not have the same powers that you are used to… yet." She grinned and stepped through the vortex.

_Hmm… I wonder what she meant by that._ Mata Nui thought as he continued his journey through space. _And what is Bara Magna._

**Angel: AAAAANNND SCENE!**

**I realize that I only covered about half of what I wanted to in this chapter. But I'm new at this ok? I didn't want to do a crappy job because I rushed. Give me a break.**

**Please oh Please Review.**


	3. Ruins and History, Matoren and Rahi

**Me: AAANNND I'm Back! YESS THREE CHAPTERS! Sorry it took so long. I am going to try to be a little faster with the update next time. But hey what do you expect, Hmm? I have School and a Job and then I got stupid writers block. Anyways, Disclaimer!**

**Disclaimer: I really am very sure I don't own Bionicle. I checked.**

Ok thanks to every one who is reading this silly little story of mine. Please Review!

Lizzy stepped through the portal, and out into a grey, stone filled world, lit by the eerie light of a setting sun. All around her were stones, a fallen ruin of a once grand building. To her right was an ancient stone structure. She gasped as she realized: it was the Toa Suva that brought six Matoren together and made them into the Toa Metru. That meant she was in the ruins of the Great Temple in Ga-Metru, on the Island of Metru Nui.

"No Freaking Way!" she shouted. She had dreamed of coming here. But in her dreams, the building was glorious and fully built, full of light and laughter.

As she picked her way through the rubble, she noticed something. The Temple had not fallen down; it had been torn apart. Sadly, she traced a scorch mark on a fallen column, saw a claw mark on a floor tile, heard an echo of a beastly roar reverberating through time. All around her, a fine layer of dust and ash still coated every surface. She raised her eyes, taking in the glorious architecture, following the curved dome, until she saw where the roof had been blasted apart. There was a large burn mark on the ceiling above her, greyed with time. She closed her eye, remembering what had happened here, centuries ago, and one word rose to her lips.

She whispered the name that still struck fear in old Turaga's hearts.

"Hordika"

Lizzy sighed, and moved on, her feet leading her closer to the Suva, until she stood near it at the center of the fallen Temple. As she stared at the stone, she took in the intricate carvings. She dropped her bag near to the stone and stepped closer. She narrowed her eyes and brushed away the ash and dust, her eyes tracing a familiar figure in the carving. The Toa, who had given to her, her power, was shown, in relief, with the rest of her team. Next to the Atriz, there was another team, unfamiliar. Lizzy continued on to the next one, brushing off more dust and dirt. More Toa teams met her eyes. She was fascinated by all the different names and teams. She soon found the Toa Mata, the original, less powerful versions of the Nuva, then the Toa Haga. Later on, the Toa Metru were shown. Then she noticed a side branch that traveled down the stone. She crouched squinting at the dark carvings, unable to discern what it showed.

In her hand, her necklace, with the charm, glowed with a sudden brilliance. She looked at it, then back at the carving. Now she could see the bas-relief. She was shocked. There in the grey stone was a carving, with a caption. It read: The meeting of the Old and New, in a truly dark hour. It showed the Rahaga, the former Toa Haga, and the Toa Hordika, the poisoned forms of the Toa Metru. Lizzy looked at the carving for a good while, trying to understand.

_The Haga were a part of the old Toa teams,_ Lizzy thought,_ like the Atriz, but the Metru are considered one of the new teams. That means…_

She jumped up and ran her finger over the upper carvings, searching.

"A-ha, found it."

The Toa Nuva along with their Phantoka and Mistika forms were the next carving after the Metru, followed by the Inika, with their Mahri forms.

"So the Nuva are like a bridge between the old and the new… the Mata became the Nuva… ok that's cool." Lizzy grinned. "It's like a condensed history of the Toa, all on this stone. I wonder how it got here, since no one was here during the Hordika and after that until just before the Inika. Hmm…"

Her eyes flicked over, past the Inika. There was another set of figures. They looked similar to the Atriz, but slightly like the Nuva. A single word was etched beneath, and the young teen stared at it.

Rahini

Slowly she lifted her hand and reached a trembling finger out to trace one of the figures. She shivered, a sense of foreboding or foreshadowing sweeping over her. In her hand, the necklace charm glowed bright, as she whispered the word.

Surprised, Lizzy looked at the charm. The glow grew brighter and brighter, till the entire ruin was filled with light. The necklace floated up out of her hand, and hung in mid-air in front of her. In her mind, a voice echoed.

_First of the Rahini, good luck on your travels; strive against shadow, your team to unravel._

_You bear the mask that commands light; go where darkness breeds and there you must fight._

The necklace flared once more, and then floated towards her. Lizzy kept still as the charm touched her skin, just above her chest. There was a discharge of energy, which caused her to gasp, and grab at the charm. As she tried to grasp it, the ends of the necklace connected around her neck, searing her skin with another discharge that followed the chain around, causing her to cry out in pain and shock. Then the bright glow faded.

Lizzy tried to pull the necklace off, but soon found that it was connected to her skin. She dug through her bag and found a small hand mirror. She angled it down and looked at the necklace. The skin around the charm was red, irritated but otherwise unharmed. The charm itself has fused to her skin, looking like a miniature version of a Bionicle's heart light. As she brushed her fingers over it, she flinched.

"Weeird…" she breathed, then brushed it again. Shuddering at the feeling, she touched it once more with the tips of her fingers. She felt as if she was stroking her heart. With a jerk, she realized that she was pretty much doing just that. _I guess I will always know when I get injured. I wonder if I can still get a broken heart, or if that even means the same thing. Oh well._

Lizzy stuffed the mirror back into her bag, grabbed the bag and stood. She sighed, glancing at the Suva. _I should go_ she thought, _I have to find those "others" that Mata Nui mentioned who also answered destiny's call. Then maybe this will make more sense._

She picked her way carefully out of the Temple and down the bridge. In the distance she could see the skyscraper like buildings, and the beautiful sculptures (what was left of them anyway). She looked around, mostly to make sure that she was not going to be attacked by any Rahi beasts, and partially to see if there was any one around. She headed down the street that seemed to head right for the heart of the city. Lizzy wanted to see the Coliseum and see what she could find there. She also thought she might find one of the "others" on her way there.

As she set off down the road, Lizzy heard the sound of metal scraping against stone. The young teen spun around, settling into a defensive stance, her years of martial arts training kicking in. Behind her was a green figure, a Matoran. Lizzy gaped at the lone figure, which had frozen in his tracks when she had turned. The teen and the Bionicle eyed each other warily, not speaking, just assessing each other. Lizzy noticed that this particular Matoran looked slightly familiar, and not like a normal Matoran. Suddenly, the green figure lunged forward, a ball of light flashing from his out-stretched hand. Lizzy sidestepped and spun, avoiding the second shot, crying out in surprise. The Matoran shouted, his attacks driving Lizzy back towards a wall. Soon the girl was pressed up against it, panting from dodging the attacks. Over the wall behind her, another Matoran, this one white, jumped down, landing next to the green one and turning to face the cornered girl. Now Lizzy knew she was seeing things. This new Matoran looked like the Av-Matoran, Solek, while the Green Av-Matoren reminded her of Tanma, Lewa's Av-Matoran partner. He mind scrambled, trying to figure out how to communicate with the two Matoren. But she was spared the struggle when there was a roar behind the two. They turned, eyes wide behind their masks. A Muaka Cat reared behind them, roaring at them. The two Matoren dove to the side, as the Muaka bore down on them. The enraged Rahi swiped at Solek's retreating form, screaming out a roar as Tanma blasted its side with a well-aimed light burst. The Muaka swung around and charged at Tanma, who leapt out of the way, his jet pack giving him an extra boost.

Realizing his strategic position, Tanma began peppering the Muaka with light bursts from above, while Solek attempted to tangle up the Rahi's legs with a flexible wire cable. The Cat-like Rahi ignored the flying Matoren and lunged at Solek. Solek dodged to the side, but the Muaka's claw clipped the side of Solek's chest, sending the Matoran spinning away. He tripped over a rock and with a *Thud* hit his mask on a rock.

"Solek!" Tanma yelled. He swooped down to the ground and raced over to his friend. Behind his mask, Solek's eyes were thin lines. Tanma grabbed his friend and went to pull him to safety. The Muaka had other ideas. Tanma looked up as the Rahi stood over him, Tanma's eyes were wide, fear on his mask, as he hugged Solek's shoulders. The Muaka raised a clawed foot over the two Matoren. Tanma cringed, shutting his eyes as tight as possible, hoping that Muaka did not like to play with their food. As the Muaka slashed, a white and gold figure jumped in front of the two Matoren.

Tanma opened his eyes. In front of him stood the strange being he had been chasing, in its hands was what looked like a Toa Tool; a sword crackling with energy. The being (Lizzy) shoved back at the Muaka, causing it to become unbalanced and stumble back. Lizzy stood and raised her sword until it pointed at the Muaka. Her eyes narrowed as she fired off a blast of light, twice as bright as anything that the two Matoren had managed to conjure up. The Muaka roared as the bolt of light neared it, and then let out a shriek of agony as the bolt hit its chest, and it disappeared into a cloud of dust. Lizzy stood still as the dust settled, revealing the Muaka, shaking its head as if to clear it. On the ground in front of it lay a mask, rusted and cracked. Lizzy slowly set her sword on the ground and walked over to the Muaka, hand outstretched. The Muaka snorted and growled at the teen. Lizzy ignored its aggression and continued to approach the Rahi. Gently she set her hand on its face-plate, willing her hand to glow softly, and warm up a little.

"Go on, be free." She whispered to the Muaka. It snorted and spun away from her, charging off into the gloom of the ruined city. Lizzy turned back around to walk back to the rusted mask lying on the ground. She stiffened; Tanma was crouch near the mask, looking intently at it.

"Back off, Tanma!"

The green Av-Matoran fell backwards, surprised by the sudden bark command.

Lizzy strode forward. Tanma skittered backwards as the human girl approached. Lizzy stood over the rusted mask herself, seemingly lost in thought. She stared at the mask on the ground for a while, then she sighed. Quickly she swung her sword up and brought it down on the mask. There was a flash of light and a shattering sound. When Tanma reopened his eyes, Lizzy was picking up the pieces of the broken mask. She wrapped them up in a length of cloth and turned to Tanma, taking a deep breath as she did.

"Hi"

"Um… Hi?"

"Are you alright? That Rahi didn't hit or anything did he?"

"No"

"Good"

Lizzy patted the top of Tanma's head. Behind them, Solek was finally coming to. Tanma forgot momentarily about the stranger in front of him and ran to his friend.

"Solek! Are you alright?" Tanma asked, shaking Solek by the shoulders, the white Av-Matoran's head rattling on his head.

"Iy-iy-yi'm-m ok Ta-a-anma. Quit it will ya." Solek struggled to get out of Tanma's grip. He seemed dazed still, and Tanma was definitely not helping. Lizzy laughed quietly, then stepped forward and gently pulled Tanma back.

"Yeah I don't think that shaking him to death is a good idea there." Lizzy said.

When Tanma pulled himself loose, Lizzy did not try to hold him back. The Two Matoran looked at the human girl.

"Ah yeah… um… I guess now would be a good time for me to introduce myself." Lizzy said sheepishly rubbing her head.

"You're a human, aren't you? Wow check it out Tanma, Turaga Vakama was right. The Destiny Heroes are real and they are coming to help out. She's one of them!" Solek nearly yelled, yanking on Tanma's arm. Lizzy laughed again, then quickly stopped.

"Wait what? You guys know about me?" Lizzy asked, shocked.

The two Matoren looked at each other, then turned back to the teen. "We'll tell you back at the village. Come on, we should get off the streets. It's not safe out here at night." They said to her, beckoning for her to follow. Behind them, in the depths of the City, echoed a Rahi's cry. Lizzy stiffened, looking at the ruins in the distance.

"He said that the others had already come through. They are alone out here and they may not know what is going on." She said softly, then she turned back to Tanma and Solek saying, "Where is the village? I have to find the others then we can talk."

They looked at each other again, whispering; Tanma seemingly reluctant while Solek was eager and trying to convince the green Matoran of something. Lizzy was impatient, she wanted to move on, to find the rest of her team. Solek finally turned back to her, a triumphant grin across his mask. Tanma on the other hand, was grumbling and groaning about being dragged into some ridiculous adventure again.

"We'll come with you! We know the city pretty well now and we can help against some of the bigger Rahi." Solek said, nearly jumping with excitement.

Lizzy thought a moment, then nodded. "That's probably a good idea. I know things, but actually putting that knowledge to use is harder. I would be great full for your help, Solek, and yours too, Tanma."

"Um… you know our names, apparently," Solek said, as Tanma started, surprised that Lizzy knew his name, "But we don't know yours."

"Oh yeah… ha-ha… Sorry," Lizzy laughed, then bowed slightly.

"My name is Elizabeth Toren."

^(*^(%%(^)*)*(&)(

About an hour later, the three had approached the edge of the main part of Ga-Metru and were making their way down one of the clearest paths. All around them, the sounds of the night echoed eerily through the streets. Solek had kept up a steady stream of questions and answers with Lizzy, who had to continuously remind the enthusiastic Av-Matoran to quiet down. Just behind the two, Tanma walked cautiously, eyes flickering from the side to side, his whole being on edge. Being in the middle of a deserted Metru, full of vicious Rahi and Makuta Teridax's presence was not his idea; but still, Solek needed someone to keep an eye on him and the strange female, Lizzy he reminded himself, seemed clueless as to where she was going. Without warning, said teenager stopped walking in the middle of a street intersection, her ears picking up a faint echo. Solek, not expecting her to stop, crashed right into her, effectively knocking her over. Lizzy stumbled forward and fell to one knee, head bowed, listening.

"Ah Lizzy, s-sorry, I didn't m-mean t-to…" Solek stammered, but Lizzy held a hand up, while Tanma shushed the white Matoren.

To their left came a faint echo. Lizzy's head inclined slightly to the noise, waiting to hear it again. The sound came again, a faint scream, and with that, Lizzy sprang up and ran toward the noise, Solek and Tanma chasing her. Lizzy ran steadily, focusing on following the sound of the scream and the other sounds that were now reaching her ears; the sounds of a fight. Hearing the sound change, Lizzy dashed down a side street, calling out "This Way!" to the other two, following her instinct to the sound. In front of her, a wall of haphazardly piled rubble loomed through the gloomy twilight. The two Matoran slowed to a stop. Only a Toa would be able to scale that mound. Lizzy on the other hand, charge straight at the rubble, forcing herself to go faster and faster. At the right moment, she planted her feet and launched herself upwards. Solek noticed that as she did so, her eyes, already a golden-copper color, glowed brighter. The young teen made her way up the side of the rubble heap, showing the flexibility and agility of a Toa. Below her, even grumpy Tanma was impressed. Then she disappeared over the top.

"Uh… LIZZY WAIT!" Yelled Solek. Tanma just shook his head and sat down to wait.

"She will come back to get us Solek, calm down." He said, grateful that he would not have to fight whatever it was.

"But what if she needs help, Tanma?" Solek said, still trying to find a way up the rubble.

"I don't think she will. It sounds like an ash bear. The Toa don't have a problem with those, and judging by what we just saw, she has some Toa power in her. She'll be fine."

…

On the other side of the wall, Lizzy jumped down to level ground and took off running again. The sounds were so much louder on this side of the wall, aiding in her search for the disturbance. Again, whoever the Rahi was attacking screamed again and the Rahi roared in anger.

"Oh God, Somebody HELP!" Screamed the voice. Lizzy heard and made one last turn. In front of her was an Ash Bear, as Tanma had so rightly guessed, and on the ground in front of it was a young girl, maybe about 15 years old, dressed all in blue. The Ash Bear was about to attack again, when Lizzy yelled.

"Hey Bug-Face!"

The Ash-Bear, turned, as Lizzy launched herself off of a boulder and flew through the air, pulling her sword off her back and slashing it downwards. Halfway through the slash, the sword lit up, blazing with light energy. Lizzy brought the flat of her blade down on the Ash-Bear's head hard. Below her, the Girl in blue scrambled to her feet and retreated behind a large chunk of a wall. Lizzy landed on her feet, as the Ash-Bear stumbled back, its paw rubbing its head., and it's eyes blinking furiously in reaction to the blazing sword in Lizzy's hand. Human and Rahi stared each other down, the Ash-Bear growling, while Lizzy was silent. The Ash-Bear, sufficiently recovered, charged the light powered teen, who leapt forward and swung her sword around. The Ash-Bear followed the sword, and Lizzy managed to summon a light blast strong enough to effectively knock the Rahi unconscious, knowing that if she tried to physically attack the Rahi, she would fail, not to mention hurt herself. The Ash-Bear fell to the ground with a resounding crash. Lizzy landed in front of it and walked closer to the unconscious form.

"As I suspected; _He_ is using infected masks again. How typical." Lizzy muttered to herself, inspecting the Ash-Bear's head.

She raised her hand to blast the mask off, but tripped slightly and fell forward. Her hand made contact with the mask and there was a flash of light. Lizzy yelled, as a shock went up her arm, while the mask itself lost its rusty finish, and the color cleared up. Lizzy pulled her hand away, shocked. Somehow, she had just rid the mask of whatever Makuta had infected it with, effectively purifying it.

"Wow…" Said a voice behind the shocked teen. Lizzy spun around. The other girl had come out from behind the wall she had been hiding behind, and was slowly approaching Lizzy.

"Did you kill it? Is it dead?"

"No, I just knocked it unconscious so I could get this infected mask off of it."

The other girl just looked at Lizzy, who sighed, "I'll explain later."

They both nodded in agreement and Lizzy turned back to the Bear. She tugged at the formerly infected mask, which came off in her hand. The Ash-Bear grumbled and shifted, causing the other girl to shriek and run back behind her wall. Lizzy jumped back, worried that the Ash-Bear actually needed the mask. She set the mask down and turned back to the other girl.

"Come on. It should be out for a while. Let's go while the going is still good." She whispered. The other girl peeked out. Deciding that it was safe for the moment, the carefully walked to Lizzy, who pointed back the way she had come.

"I have a couple of friends back there, you should come, I'll explain on the way." Lizzy said, leading the other girl around the corner, "I'm Lizzy, by the way, Lizzy Toren."

"Katie Sailor. A pleasure, really. Thanks for the save. What was that thing?"

"I think it's called an Ash-Bear, but I'm not sure." Lizzy replied. "I wouldn't worry about it though. That blast should have knocked it out for a while."

Behind them, they heard the sound of the Ash-Bear waking up.

"Or maybe not."

"Might I suggest that now is a good time to run?"

"Yeah good idea."

*****  
><strong>Please Review my story. I need the motivation.<strong>


	4. One Persistant Rahi

**A/N: Hey everyone (who bothers to read my stories)... Sorry it took so long. I've been dealing with school and crap.**

**But I did get my Acceptance letter to College. YAY! *does a happy/touchdown dance***

**But enough about me. Thanks to Andonexus Knight of the Damned for reveiwing. So happy to see that somebody actually is reading my story. Feed back is greatly appreciated.**

**Oh yeah, Spell check wasn't working so there might be a bunch of typos.**

**Anyways, Please read.**

Solek and Tanma waited at the base of the mountain of rubble, Tanma sitting on a boulder, arms crossed, eyes closed, his irritation growing. The cause of his irritation was Solek. The White Av-Matoran was pacing frantically below him. Tanma grew more and more upset, gritting his teeth while Solek muttered to himself. Finally the Green Matoran had enough.

"Will you stop that?" He hissed at Solek, who looked up at him.

"Stop what, Tanma?"

"The pacing! It's getting on my nerves."

"Sorry, I'm just worried. What if something happened to her? She could get hurt, and we wouldn't know about it." Solek was wringing his hands, and staring at the mountain of rubble as if his gaze would cause the yellow-wearing teen to appear at the top.

Tanma sighed. "Solek, I seriously doubt that she would get hurt fighting an Ash-Bear. She obviously has good deal of power, and she seemed to think that the screams were from one of the 'others' she kept talking about. And besides, she left that bag of hers here. She's gonna have to come back to get it. She seemed rather protective of it."

Solek looked at him, as if he still did not believe Tanma. Both Matoran were quiet, lost in their own thoughts.

A moment later, there was the sound of falling rocks. The two Matoren looked up. Sliding and leaping her way down was Lizzy, followed by another girl, wearing blue. Lizzy leapt down from about eight feet up, landing on her feet, while the other girl, found her way to the bottom; both girls looked frightened.

"Hi guys. Um we need to go… like now." Lizzy panted.

"Yeah I don't think this pile of rocks will hold it for long."

Solek and Tanma stared at the Girl, who seemed wary of them herself.

"Ah yes. Solek, Tanma, this is Katie; Katie, these are the friends I told you about. The white one is Solek and the green one is Tanma. They are Av-Matoren. I know I said I would explain but now is not the best time. As soon as we…"

"Av-Matoren? Really? As in Bionicle?" Katie asked, incredulous.

"Um… Yeah, we are Bionicles." Tanma said.

"Really?"

"Yes Really."

"Real.." "Yes Katie, really. I'll explain later but we really need to go."

"Why?" Asked Solek. Behind them came a roar, and the sound of more falling stones.

"That's why." Lizzy said, grabbing her bag and Tanma's arm, dragging him along as she started running.

"ASH-BEAR!" Solek yelled. Katie grabbed his arm and started running herself.

"You so owe me, Solek. I told you it was an Ash-Bear!" Called Tanma, running beside Lizzy now. Lizzy groaned to herself. "Can we focus on getting away from her first?" she panted. Tanma grunted affirmative, his short Matoran sized legs struggling to keep up with Lizzy's longer human legs. The four turned, first down this street, then this, effectively losing the Rahi. When they finally came to a stop, they collectively collapsed, exhausted.

Lizzy looked at Katie, wondering just how much this girl knew about the Bionicle world. The other girl was warily watching Tanma and Solek, as if they were wild animals that would attack her. Lizzy, a bit miffed at her reaction, got shakily to her feet.

"Ok, I know you are all really tired, but we really need to get off the streets before nightfall." Lizzy said. "Solek tells me that since we are on our own, we are probably really susceptible to Makuta showing up and messing with our heads." Tanma merely groaned and got to his feet, while Solek stood next to Lizzy, nodding his head so hard that Lizzy was worried that it would fly off. Katie just sat there.

"I'm not moving until I get some explanation about what the hell is going on." She snapped. Lizzy rolled her eyes; now she remembered this girl. Lizzy had met her once, when the Orphanage had taken a trip to the beach. Lizzy had told the younger kids about Gali, Nokama, Hali and the Ga-Matoren that day. She remembered another girl (not part of the Orphanage) come over and listen with a bored expression. At the end of that day, just before Lizzy left, the girl had come up and introduced herself as Katie Sailor. She had also wanted to say thanks to Lizzy for the stories that "kept me from being completely and utterly bored while my parents ignored me." Lizzy had given Katie a look and said, "Thanks… I think." Katie had then turned on her heel and walked away. Lizzy had watched her leave, then climbed onto the bus shaking her head.

Back in the present, Lizzy looked at Katie. Around her neck was a necklace similar to the one that had attached itself to Lizzy's neck.

"Did the Toa tell you anything when you came through the portal?" She asked.

Katie looked at her, surprised. "You mean the big blue robot that I saw? Yeah, it – I mean she said something about water and power and then there was this disembodied voice that kept talking about duty and destiny. I didn't get it. Oh and then the blue one told me something about others and how the "Light" knew stuff and would tell me, then she asked about my necklace. Apparently she liked it or something. She said it held power, her power. That just confused me. I mean it's just a necklace… right?" Katie rambled on, then looked at Lizzy questioningly. Lizzy just rolled her eyes again, then shook her head.

"Did the 'big blue robot' have a name?" She asked. "Vizshola" Katie said, "Why?"

"Just curious."

" Well that's helpful." Katie muttered. Lizzy laughed quietly, then looked at the sky.

"I estimate that we have about two hours before the suns go down. We should at least try to get out of Ga-Metru before then. Tanma? What's the next Metru over?"

"Po-Metru."

"Mostly desert, if memory serves." Lizzy said thoughtfully. "I do think that an open area would be safer for us." Tanma looked at her as if she was insane. "I have my reasons."

Katie got to her feet, hefting her backpack. Lizzy quirked an eyebrow at the other girl.

"Well let's get to where ever it is we are going. I really don't care at this point. I have the feeling that this isn't home and that I'm going to be here for a while, so I'd rather go somewhere rather than worry about stuff." Katie scoffed at Lizzy's expression. Katie spun on her heel and headed in the direction that Lizzy had indicated they travel. As they walked, silently, Lizzy took the chance to study the other girl, not realizing that Katie was doing the same to her.

Lizzy noted that Katie was short, compared at least to her 5' 8", perhaps about 5' 4" or 5' 5". Where Lizzy had brown hair with natural gold highlights, Katie was a platinum blond with blue edging and Lizzy's gold/copper eyes contrasted with Katie's startlingly blue. Katie had a slight figure, slim and compact, but under the thick layers the girl had, Lizzy could see an inner strength and stubbornness.

Katie studied Lizzy from behind the safety of her blue fringed bangs that covered more than half her face. She was impressed by the strength that Lizzy had bottled inside her, but shone out through her eyes. Katie found that she was a little jealous of the other girl, who had a well defined and well muscled figure, but attempted to hide it. _If I had a body like that, I wouldn't cover it up,_ Katie thought to herself.

Both girls studied each other, like opponantes sizing up the competition. Solek was oblivious to it, staring owlishly around at the destruction wrought throughout Ga-Metru. Tamna, on the other hand, watched the two girls wondering who would break the silence first.

Around the small group, the buildings, wreakage, waterways and walkways and overall humidity of the water district of the city slowly gave way to arid skies and sandy wastes of Po-Metru. All four beings, two bio-mechanical, two organic lost In their own thoughts continued walking, unaware of another presence following behind them.

Lizzy eventually came out of her reverie and began looking around for a good place to camp. In the distance, she spied a couple of sand dunes near an small oasis. _Perfect_ she thought and called the attention of the others, directing them to the tiny pond of fresh cool water. Upon reaching the area, the two Av-Matoren took it upon themselves to collect the odd shaped fruits that hung from the trees and piled them up, ready to eat. Solek took out a small spear and began hunting the small lizards that swarmed the deserts. Early on, when the Av-Matoren had first arrived at Metru Nui with the Toa Nuva, they had found that the small lizards were good for eating, something that the previous inhabitants (the Matoren and Turaga) had not realized before.

Lizzy focused on gathering up fallen branches and dead leaves for a fire, stacking as much as she could, unsure how much would be used for the night. She then set about building a fire pit and starting a fire. She could not figure out how to start the fire, even with Solek and Tanma's help with light bursts to assist. Growling to herself about her own stupidity for not bringing a lighter or even matches in her bag, she went in search of Katie, who was down by the oasis. Lizzy found the other girl standing near the water, hands cupped around a perfectly round orb of water, the necklace/heartlight around her neck, glowing with a calm blue light.

"Katie?" called Lizzy.

Katie jumped and lashed out, sending the orb of water at Lizzy's head, where it spashed and drenched the light powered teen.

"I'm so sorry!" Katie said, horrified that she had probably just ticked of the only other person in the strange world she found herself in. To her surprise, Lizzy began laughing.

"Well, I guess I won't have to wash my face later." Lizzy joked.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to." Katie repeated.

"It's alright. Kinda spooked ya, didn't I? So it was deserved."

Katie gave a wary smile, to which Lizzy returned a full grin.

"Actually I was looking for you, Katie. I wanted to know if you had any ideas on how to start the fire. I don't have any matches for some reason." Lizzy laughed, sheepishly scratching the back of her head. Katie looked at her. "Come on." Lizzy smiled again, encouragingly this time and led the way back to camp. Katie looked wistfully at the still waters of the oasis then followed Lizzy to the campsite.

"So you control water? That would make you the Water Toa, like Gali, Hali and Nokama, remember? From those stories?" Lizzy asked, folding her legs and sitting on the ground. Katie nodded, thoughtful.

"What about you? What can you do?" The water powered girl asked, tilting her head curiously.

"Light… I control light." Lizzy said.

"Really…hmmm… then you should be able to start the fire by yourself."

"Yeah—wait what? How?"

"Focus a beam of light, like really focus it. It works like when you bend light through a magnifying glass. The heat from the focused light should start a flame." Katie explained. Lizzy looked at her like she was brilliant.

"That's genious!" Lizzy cried.

She leaned forward and scooted herself closer to the fire pit. She then pointed her finger at a small pile of leaves, and closed her eyes, concentrating hard. Her necklace/heartlight flashed, and from her finger emminated a beam of golden light. At first it was a broad beam, more like a spotlight. Lizzy gasped and laughed, glancing at Katie who grinned at her. Lizzy then closed her eyes again, focusing on narrowing the beam. Slowly the light narrowed and became like a pinprick of light. With a puff of smoke and a flash of fire, the leaves caught fire. Both girls cheered, though Lizzy was visibly exhausted from the exercise. About ten minutes later, the two girls had the fire crackling merrily and the two Matoren had the food ready. Katie was a liitle wary of eating the strange lizards, but when she saw the way that Lizzy was chowing down on them, she tried them.

"!"

"I know right? The Epitome of 'Tastes just like Chicken" right?" Lizzy laughed. Katie nodded, savoring the flavor.

"So Katie, where are you from?" Lizzy asked, Solek suddenly hanging on the blue-dressed teen's every word.

"I'm from… well… a rather well off family. My dad is a prominent British business man, and My mom is a movie actress. " Said Katie, suddenly looking down. Lizzy opened her mouth to ask a question, but suddenly, behind them there was a roar.

Katie screamed, Tanma and Solek yelled with fright, while Lizzy swore loudly. It was the Ash-Bear. Lizzy leapt to her feet, pulling her energy sword out and lighting it up. The Ash-Bear roared again and charged. Tanma and Solek took off, trying to distract the maddened Rahi. Katie dove to the side as the Ash-Bear barreled past, Lizzy chasing it while her sword blazed like a beacon across the sands. Suddenly, the Ash-Bear came to a stop and turned towards the gold and white teen. Lizzy came to a halt, her battle cry dying in her throat as she caught sight of the Rahi's rage-maddened eyes. As the Ash-bear lumbered forward, Lizzy turned, and fled.

"Lizzy! Bring it closer to the Oasis!" Katie yelled, standing on the bank. Lizzy veered her course off towards the water. As the teen ran past, Katie took a deep breath and called on the power that she felt somewhere within her. The Ash-Bear, losing sight of Lizzy, changed paths and headed straight for the water powered teen. Katie waited, tense; then at the last possible moment, jumped to the side, allowing the Ash-Bear to rush past at full tilt into the water. Katie turned to the Rahi, now floundering in the semi-shallow pool, and swept her arms together, causing the water to swirl and splash against the Rahi, even as the two Matoren dive bombed it's head repeatedly, buzzing around like crazed Gukko birds. The Ash-Bear fought the current that Katie stirred up in hopes of tiring it out. Lizzy ran to the younger girls side and watched, as Tamna and Solek joined them, breathing heavily. Suddenly, with a mighty heave, the Ash-Bear reared out of the water and swiped a heavy metal paw at the group, sending them flying back. Lizzy rolled to a stop, dazed; her ears ringing from the blow. She faintly heard Katie screaming at her, Tamna and Solek yelling indistinctly. As she rolled over to see what was the matter, she found herself face to mask with the irate visage of the Ash-Bear. Lizzy gulped as the Ash-Bear raised a clawed paw. As the Rahi brought down it's deadly appendage, Lizzy flinched at the expected pain, but it never came. There was a rush of movement, the *Shinnnngg* of drawn steel, the rattle of a chain over stone, and the surprised grunt of the Rahi. Katie's eyes widened in surprise; Lizzy looked up to see another teenager standing near her, a pair of kamas connected together by a long chain tangled around the Ash-Bear's paw.

"Ah, ah, ah Mr. Nasty Robot Animal. Can't have you slicing up my friends, now can I?" a familiar (to Lizzy, at least) voice mocked. The new teen yanked on the chain and swung the surprised Rahi overhead and threw it to the ground with a thunderous crash. The Kamas disconnected with an expert flick and sailed back to the waiting hands of Lizzy's savior. The Ash-Bear rose shakily to its feet and with a final backward glance at the group, shuffled off, back towards Ga-Metru. The new teen let out a sigh of relief and spun around to face Lizzy.

"What's this now, the 18th time I've saved your butt from getting beaten by someone, or rather something, bigger than you?"

"Yeeah, something like that, I think… though I remember it being closer to like 12 or 13." Lizzy laughed, "And I'm surprised you are here."

"Well the rock I found in my backyard said somethin' about Bionicles so I figured 'Hey, I might see Lizzy again, if its Bionicle related and such.' So I packed a bag and jumped through. Got some awesome bling on the way over, too. From some guy named Amix, I think." The other teen laughed loudly, Lizzy chuckling along. Katie and the two Av-Matoren crept closer, curious.

"Hey, Lizzy? Um… Who's this?" Katie asked, softly standing next to the yellow wearing teen.

"Oh Yeah… Guys, I want you to meet a really good friend of mine. This is Brianne Carver."

The teen in question grinned and put up a mock salute.

"Hey Ya'll. Toa of Stone reporting for duty!"

**Please, please tell me what you think. Ideas would be cool too.**

**Laters, people!**


	5. Hints at Shadowed Pasts

A/N: Ok so this chapter preludes a lot of information that may take time to reveal. And I really don't know where most of this came from; the damn plot bunnies won't leave me alone.

Thanks to Shatter Dave for Favoriting/Story Alert-ing (is that even a word) this story. It is gratefully appreciated. Sorry for the spoiler, but I felt you deserved it.

And thanks to Andonexus Knight of the Damned for also reviewing.

It means a lot guys, thanks!

If this chapter confuses you, review or PM me and I will do my best to set thing straight for you. As it stands though… this chapter is longer than the last.

Disclaimer: *sarcastically* Oh hell yeah I own Bionicle… Really people I have to remind you every time that I don't? Oy-vey.

Please review

Katie felt lost, confused and completely forgotten. Her new- found friend seemed to completely forget about her and the two Matoren, as she chatted with the brown clad girl who had saved them from the Ash-Bear. Apparently, Lizzy knew this new girl very well, they had been friends at the orphanage that Lizzy was from. Katie left the two friends by the fire and made her way to the Oasis. She had noticed that the water made her calmer, even during the Ash-Bear fight, and she wanted to test a theory. When she reached the side of the water, she watched the stars reflected in the water, which rippled slightly at the light wind that blew through the night, feeling as if the water was filling her with serenity and, even though she was frustrated with Lizzy for forgetting about her, the young water-powered teen felt as if she understood, to a degree, why. Katie sank to her knees and stripped off her shoes and socks and set them by the side of the water. She then slipped quietly into the water, reveling in the soothing feeling. She gently lifted her arms, the water rising to follow her motions.

Behind her, she heard the slight whirring of gears. She turned, heartlight-necklace glowing with power.

"Whoa, sorry." Yelped the figure. Katie relaxed and dropped her arms, the water sliding back down into the Oasis. It was Solek.

"Sorry." He said. "I just noticed you were gone and I thought you might want some company."

"Yeah… um, no offense, Solek. But I'm still not comfortable with the whole idea of talking to a robot. I'm still not sure I totally believe that this isn't a dream." Katie said, looking at the water at her feet.

"It's ok." Said the easy going Av-Matoran. "I still can believe that I've meet now three pure organics. I mean, I've heard a lot about Turaga Vakama's visions and how they come true, but I never would have guessed that when he said the Destiny Heroes would be from out of this world, He really meant it."

Katie looked at the Matoran curiously. "Who are you talking about?" She asked.

"Oh, you've never heard of the Turaga?" Solek asked. Katie shook her head, climbing out of the water and sitting down next to the Matoran, who sat down himself. "Well now that I think about it, I have heard of one of the Turaga, I think." Katie corrected herself. "I've heard of Turaga Nokama. Is she like Turaga Vakama?"

"Yeah, she's Vakama's sister. You see the Turaga were this city's last Toa, the Toa Metru. They saved the Matoren from Makuta Teridax the first time. They sacrificed their powers to wake up the Matoren who had been put in a Shadow sleep. They are now the elders of the six villages, and teachers and advisers to the Toa Nuva."

"What is a Makuta Teridax?" Katie asked. Around them the wind picked up slightly, a cool edge to it beginning to bite.

"well we try not to talk about him because he's everywhere, right now but…"

"He is the evil of this world, the big baddie, kinda like the opposite of my element. He controls Shadows, and the infected masks and all that kinda stuff. He is the leader of the Brotherhood of Makuta, or at least he was. But most of the Brotherhood died in Karda Nui, and I think the rest hate Teridax because of that, if there are any left. The Makuta have something to do with why we are here but I do know that it is not our part to defeat Teridax. I'm pretty sure that we are not even going to deal with Teridax." Said Lizzy, walking up behind the two, Brianne right behind her. Brianne smiled friendly-like at Katie, who returned the grin. Solek froze, hearing Lizzy's explanation.

"We are so dead." Solek muttered, eyes flashing all around, watching the shadows around him.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?" Tanma yelled at Lizzy, walking up to the group. "Saying his name that often? He's going to come now! He's everywhere and he hears everything. Why do you think that the Av-Matoren are the only ones left here?"

"So it's like saying Voldemort?" Katie asked. Lizzy shrugged.

"Let's get back to the fire then, alright? The light will help to keep him back." She said, turning and walking to the fire. The others followed, Tanma still freaking out and Solek plainly worried. Lizzy seemed only slightly worried, but mostly confident, Katie was seriously confused, and Brianne, who had stood silently by, was calm and smiling serenely, unfazed by Tanma's outburst. Lizzy sat down on her backpack, and took out her survival knife and started whittling a stick. Katie sat to her left, staring at the fire, completely zoned out. Brianne sat to Lizzy's right, stretched out on a blanket, eyes closed, seemingly asleep. Tanma was still muttering under his breath, while Solek was still glancing around, waiting for a shadowy hand to reach out and grab him.

"Hey ya'll get some sleep, alright? I'll keep watch for a bit, and then wake one of you up." Lizzy said, after the silence became uncomfortable. Katie nodded and pulled out her own blanket, spread it out and lay down. Ami merely mumbled a sleepy, cheery "Good Night" and rolled over. Tanma and Solek just lay down and 'closed' their eyes.

_Good thing that it's still pretty warm out here._ Katie thought, as she curled up. _Though the wind might get worse and then we would be miserable._

Katie felt herself fall to the edge of sleep. She dozed, the sound of the fire and Lizzy's soft singing lulling her. When she finally fell asleep, her dreams were dark. Nightmarish shapes flitted around the edges and a voice echoed in another language. Shivering slightly, Katie recognized the voice as one of fear from her childhood. Darkness crowded the edges of her vision, as she saw then another voice broke through the dream.

_Power of water flows through your veins; forget not you duty, else all is in vain,__  
><em>_You bring the calmness of the lake and the river; but forget not the strength the ocean can deliver_

"Katie? Katie! Wake up!"

Katie jolted back to awareness at the voice. Brianne crouched next to her gently shaking Katie's shoulder, concern written across her face. Katie looked up at the brown haired girl, trying to blink the sleep from her eyes. Randomly she noticed that Brianne's bangs were caught up in multiple stone beads that clicked together every time she moved her head.

"You looked like you were having a bad dream. I'm sorry. I wanted to help."

"It's okay. I wasn't too thrilled with the dream either. What's going on? Where's Lizzy?" Katie said, yawning.

"Lizzy went to sleep about two hours ago. Do you mind keeping an eye out so I can get some sleep? Just wake me up when you can't stay awake any longer." Said Brianne, smiling once again.

Katie nodded and sat up, rubbing her eyes and looking at the fire, still crackling merrily. Brianne crawled over to her blanket and soon fell asleep, snoring softly. Behind her, Lizzy was stretched out on the soft sand, away from the fire, one hand resting on her heart-light-necklace, her eyes flickering behind her eyelids as she lay dreaming, muttering in her sleep. Katie looked over at the two Matoren, who were seemingly asleep, their eyes thin lines, behind their masks; Solek curled up on his side and Tanma sitting up, arms crossed, head bowed. _That can't be comfortable,_ she thought, giggling slightly. Looking away from her companions, Katie stared off into the distance, listening to the sounds of the Metru Nui night, hearing the nocturnal Rahi calling to each other. One cry sounded close by, causing Katie to jump a foot in the air, surprised by the sound. A moment later, the slinking form of a Muaka Cat became visible around the edges of the light of the fire. Katie noticed that the Rahi had a dark color to its mechanical parts but along its face plate and on its sides were what looked like streaks of brighter color. The Muaka came closer, slowly. Katie watched it warily, unsure what to do. The Muaka stopped near Lizzy and sniffed gently. The big cat Rahi began to purr gently and the gleam in its eyes was more kind and thankful then wild and untamed. The Muaka looked at Katie, who sat frozen, watching it; the Rahi snorted softly at the teen, turned away and padded into the night. Katie watched it disappear into the night.

An hour later, Katie startled herself back to watchfulness. She had unintentionally dozed off, waking only when she had started to fall over. Around her, the breeze picked up, the temperature dropping rapidly. A voice was heard on the wind, dark and dreadful. The voice was soon loud enough to be understood plainly; a hoarse, dark voice that seemed to drip with evil and venom. Katie shivered, not from the chill wind, but from the voice, a voice that still haunted her dreams, a voice she had hoped to forget. The voice ignited her worst fears and brought to mind a horrid memory. The young teen cried out in fear.

At the sound of her teammate's cry, Lizzy's eyes flashed open, and she leapt to her feet. Brianne woke and sat up, inching closer to Katie, trying to comfort her. On the other side of the fire, Tanma and Solek woke with a start as the wind whipped into a frenzy, cold and biting.

"It's him!" Tanma cried. Solek merely whimpered and inched closer to the green Av-Matoran. Katie sobbed in fear, trapped in her memory. Brianne hugged the girl, and looked at Lizzy's silhouetted form.

"Can you do something about this wind?" She called. Lizzy shook her head.

"Light isn't much of a shield against a physical element!" She called back, "If the wind was caused by shadow, probably and if I had a better understanding of my powers. I've just been going off of instinct so far." Lizzy staggered as a gust of wind ripped through the camp, extinguishing the fire.

"Let me see what I can do, then." Brianne shouted, closing her eyes and concentrating on the mental image of a stone bubble around her and her friends. The ground around the group rumbled and, erupting around them, rose stone walls that shielded them from the worst of the wind. Lizzy and the two Matoren sighed in relief; Brianne was grinning smugly, proud of herself. Lizzy clapped her on the shoulder with a "Great Job, Bri". Tanma dragged Solek over, scowling at Lizzy.

"Now you see why we don't say that name. And we haven't even seen the worst of it. Just wait. He might decide to show up himself."

_I have decided to come, little light bug._ Came the voice on the wind, shrieking over top of the stone walls. Solek screamed in fear, in unison with Katie, who was shaking. Brianne adjusted her grip around the girl's shoulders, and looked up at Lizzy, for once not smiling, her face blank. Lizzy knew it was Brianne's way of showing fear. Lizzy herself was struggling to choke down on her own fear, sparked by the memory from her childhood (A/N: see chapter two).

_I thought I sensed Toa in Metru Nui again, but I must say, the Great Spirit must have run out of options when he chose you…. Full organics? Brother, you must be joking. _The voice laughed sinisterly. Lizzy shuddered at the voice. Below her, Katie sobbed, terrified. Lizzy looked at the young girl, and then looked up, her expression one of determination.

Outside the wall, footsteps thundered, as if some huge being was making its way closer. Tanma and Solek crowded around Brianne and Katie, peeking out from behind Lizzy in the direction of the sounds.

They waited.

The wind died down and all was silent

…

…

…

…

*Fa-BOOOOOM* the stone walls protecting them shuddered under a heavy blow. Brianne grimaced, trying to keep the walls up. Outside the wall, the girls and the Matoren heard a sinister chuckle.

_Your fear is most appetizing…_the voice said. _It makes the shadows all the darker._

There was another blow to the walls. Cracks formed, spider-webbing their way across the surface.

"Liz… I can't… keep it up… much longer." Brianne panted, hands resting flat on the ground. Lizzy looked at her, then back at the wall.

"Just try to keep the debris from hitting us." She whispered. Brianne nodded, her brown eyes flashing orange as she focused her power again.

Lizzy stepped forward, distancing herself from the others, but still between them and whatever was on the other side of the wall. She reached her right hand over her shoulder. A handle materialized out of nowhere floating just to the left of her right shoulder-blade. She gripped the handle and pulled up and out, revealing a sword: Her energy sword. Lizzy swung it around, assuring herself that she had enough room, then placing her left hand below her right on the grip, put her left foot back, taking a stance and waited.

*Fa-BOOOOM*

*CRAAAACK*

*CRAAAAAAAAAASH*

"!"

Under the next blow, the wall shuddered, crack then fell. Lizzy braced herself, expecting the debris to hit her, but all the falling stones swerved away from her and fell to the ground. When the dust settled, the group was in a half fallen semi-circle of a wall, while at the entrance stood a nightmare figure. Lizzy stiffened, recognizing the form. It was Teridax's form from the end of the second Bionicle movie: Legends of Metru Nui. Nurrahk's wings spread from his back, while components of Niddiki and Krehka were mixed together with Makuta's original parts. Only this time around, Makuta had increased his size at least three-fold. Wisps of smoke curled from the figure, while pure fear emanated from him in sickening waves. He towered over them, blocking out the stars in the sky.

Katie whimpered again. Brianne put her arms back around the younger girl's shoulder, glaring at Makuta, like she wanted to castrate him with a dull knife, film it and then show it to him over and over and over again. Tamna and Solek crouched behind her, trying to stay out of sight, but still see Lizzy. Lizzy stood in front of them, still wielding her sword, still waiting for the first move to be made.

The ground around them rumbled as stone the size of a small car flew into the air. Solek gasped at the sight, causing Brianne to look at him. The white Av-Matoren gasped in shock again, this time at Brianne, whose eyes were glowing a bright orange, along with the stone charm that made up her heartlight-necklace, which glowed from under the jacket she wore. Assured that Solek was unharmed, Brianne turned her attention back to the scene in front of her. The rocks, floating in the air, wavered a moment, then shot themselves at Makuta. The Master of Shadows batted each stone away, a Staff appearing in his hands. Brianne eventually ran out of rocks and ceased her barrage. Lizzy looked at Makuta hoping that the attack had done any sort of damage, but her enemy was not affected.

Makuta laughed again, his voice tearing through their heads. Katie cried out again, as Shadows swirled around them and obscured their vision. The only things still visible were Makuta's blood red eyes. _Your attacks are worthless. Do you really think that mere stones can injure one such as me? It was mere chance that allowed you to defeat the Ash-Bear and the Nui-Jaga that you faced. There is nothing you can do to harm me. You are weak. Noting you do helps. No one believes you or trusts you, and why should they? You are just a girl who lost her parents. Do you think it matters? Does anything you think matter?_ Brianne looked troubled, beyond troubled. Lizzy growled. There was very little that would unsettle Brianne, but this guy was hitting a lot of the right marks. Brianne would crack soon and Lizzy knew what would happen then. Brianne's eyes and heartlight-necklace began to dim and filled with a manic depression.

"ENOUGH!" She bellowed. Around her, the air began to hum with power. Her own eyes and heartlight began to glow. "Bri, don't listen to him. Remember what I used to tell the kids: Makuta relies of fear and darkness to control and weaken people. That's what he does. But if you refuse to listen to him, if you prove him wrong he has no power over you." The red eyes seemed to regard the young girl in front of them.

_And you, Elizabeth, what of you? You know everything don't you? Are you sure? You know nothing. You are no Toa. You don't belong here. You're just an orphan who cannot even find her sister, let alone save people. Oh you did not know? _Lizzy looked stricken. _Yes your sister, the younger one. _Makuta snickered. _How can you hope to do anything useful if you cannot even remember your own sister? Your parents would be most disappointed. And to think, I might gain an ally from that girl. Why she is even more traumatized that Brianne, over there, was when you first met her. You do remember her, don't you? You used to rock her to sleep at night, in the first few months when she arrived at the orphanage. Shall I show you her today? _Lizzy felt her power slipping as Shadows coalesced and glowed darkly. An image appeared. A young girl, surrounded by Shadows, struggling to fight off a Rakkshi. Lizzy choked a cry.

"Eva..?"

Makuta chuckled darkly once more. _She will make a fine puppet._ Lizzy glared at him, livid. The air around her began to crackle as power built up again.

"You keep your filthy claws off my little sister." She snarled. There was a burst of light, pure golden light that exploded outwards, clearing any remnant of Shadow. Makuta staggered, hiding his eyes from the light. When he could see again, Lizzy had leaped into the air with Toa speed and strength and was bearing down on him. The Master of Shadows had no time to react. Lizzy struck him head on with her sword, which pulsed with light energy. The blade sliced through him as Lizzy's forward momentum carried her forward. She landed behind Makuta, stood and turned back around toward her foe.. Teridax shrieked once in agony, and exploded into slivers of shadow that quickly dissipated in the light of Lizzy. Behind her, the Twin Suns of the Bionicle World rose in a glorious sunrise. Her companions gasped. Over Lizzy's face, glowing in its own light was the Mask of Light.

Well that happened… let me know what you guys think.

Sorry about the spelling on some of the Bionicle stuff but it's late, I'm tired and I have a ton and a half of math to do. Oh and I realized that I have not really described my characters that well so keep an eye on my profile for complete descriptions.

Review…. Please?


	6. Memory Lane is a Dark Place

**A/N: Ok… Finally got this chapter finished. Thought I never would. I'm going to try and keep this short.**

**Thanks to Shatter Dave for reviewing. Yeah, you would think Makuta would now the standard rules to threatening people. Here's the new chapter. Hope you like it.**

**And to LokaCola. Thank you so much for the review. I hope this chapter holds to your expectations!**

**And to Andonexus Knight of the Damned for the review and the advice. The chapter is twice as long as the last one, like you asked… and I am going to take your advice. See the end A/N (not now, though. Read the chapter first)**

**And thanks to pencils are nice for reviewing… I think. Seriously, go read his/her review… I don't know whether to be insulted or not. **

**You should see the Reply I sent him/her via PM… I was not really happy. If you want to see what I said, let me know and I will show you.**

**Ok, so if this chapter confuses you, please let me know and I will do my best to explain. The ending pretty much just wrote itself so it might be a little weird.**

**Oh yeah, and this is the chapter that the 'T' rating comes to play…the Toa like to swear… me too so… yeah… sorry for any typos.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Shit… well I own a lot of shit but not this… just the disaster that is my room. **

Dawn in Metru Nui is a fascinating thing. The twin suns rose at the same time, casting dual shadows behind everything their light touched, the brilliance of the light is clear and unadulterated. And the light is not harsh, but crisp and clear. And even though there is twice the sunlight than there is on Earth, the temperature is barely different. The Matoren, Toa and Turaga enjoy very much the same temperatures as Humans do, albeit their seasons are not as drastic as ours. The light from the twin suns, especially in the morning and in the evening, gives a slight orange coloring to everything. It is rare for the light of the twin suns to be over powered. In the past there has been only one exception: Takanuva, the Toa of Light. Now there are two exceptions; the second being Lizzy Toren, who is about to realize that there is more to her abilities than just being able to control light and chase away the Shadows.

Lizzy stepped down off the rock she had landed on, and carefully made her way back to her friends. The battle field was strewn with rocks and rubble, a scorch mark emanating from where Lizzy had blasted Makuta, the sand fused into glass from the heat of the concentrated light. Lizzy looked around. After the darkness of the night and the utter blackness and despair that Makuta Teridax had brought with him, the light of dawn was bright to her and the light of the suns and Lizzy's own light were nearly blinding to Brianne, Tanma and Solek, who squinted and shielded their eyes, trying to see Lizzy who stood in front of them, curious as to why they looked like they were being blinded.

"Are you all ok?" Lizzy asked. She saw them nod, but continue to shield their eyes.

"Why are you all acting like you're caught in a search light?"

"Because your face is glowing like one!" Brianne said, awe apparent in her voice.

"What?"

"We can't see, Lizzy. I'm an Av-Matoren, and even I'm having a hard time seeing. Can you try and bring the light intensity down a bit?" Solek said. Lizzy nodded, noticing the drain on her energy that the output of power and concentrated. Slowly the light began to fade and diminish. After a matter of minutes, the light had dimmed down to a low glow. Lizzy looked at the others and they nodded, finally able to see without being blinded. Tanma and Solek were shocked by the mask on Lizzy's face; Brianne also. Lizzy ignored them, having not noticed the mask, and she went to Katie, who was still crying softly, curled into a terrified ball.

"Katie… It's okay… He's gone… It's alright, you can trust me." Lizzy whispered softly, rubbing the young girl's back, trying to coax her out of her ball like position. Katie whimpered, shaking her head, lost in her own world. Lizzy reached over to gently pet the girl's head, in hopes of calming her down, but as soon as she touched her head, her mask flared with light. Brianne, darted forward, sensing that something was about to happen, and grabbed Lizzy's arm. As she did so, a bubble of light expanded outwards, encasing the three girls, leaving Tanma and Solek on the outside. Solek cried out, trying to force his way into the bubble. Tanma merely rolled his eyes and sat down again.

_With all the seriously strange things that have happened, why am I not surprised that this is happening…? _He thought then said to Solek, "Might as well relax for a bit there, Solek. This might take a while, knowing Lizzy."

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" Solek said, still trying to fight his way through the shield.

"No" Tanma said, "And I really don't care… though they will probably tell us when it's over." Solek calmed down enough to see the sense in Tanma's words, and then sat down, staring at the shield, which started to glow blue in addition to the gold color it started with.

"Is this going to happen a lot?" The Matoren asked in unison, of each other.

*******Inside the Shield/Bubble thing*******

Lizzy looked around. Her surroundings were dark, bleak, a barren landscape dotted with, what appeared to be ruined buildings. The sky overhead was grey and cloudless; whatever was in the distance, fuzzy and indistinct. The whole picture was lifeless.

"Well this is depressing." Lizzy said.

"You can say that again." A voice came from behind. Lizzy turned to see Brianne behind her, hands shoved into the pockets of her brown cargo pants. Making simultaneous movements, the two girls each raised their right hand and gave each other a high five which flowed into the practiced, yet complicated movements of their "secret handshake" that they had come up with as children. When they finished, Brianne grinned lazily and stood still, slouched to the side, completely relaxed and looking around. Lizzy, a bit more on edge, also looked around, though her whole bearing showed that she was on alert. She turned around, staring off into the distance, trying to figure out an odd tingly feeling she had.

"Glad to see you haven't changed a bit, Bri." She said, not turning to look at the other girl behind her, still staring into the distance. "You've still got your hair caught up in those beads… though I don't think there were that many last time I saw you. Are you still living with your aunt? Or did the courts finally convince her to actually read your parents' will?"

"Ah, yeah… Aunt finally caved once the CPA showed up." Brianne laughed, "I've been happily living on my own, in an apartment complex. CPA checks on me every other week now, but they don't do much except send me the monthly check and pay my utilities, which aren't that much anyways."

"That's good"

"Yeah… bit of a shock at first. But hey, you taught me to keep myself grounded, to keep on truckin' and not let anything bother me too much and let stuff roll off my back, so that's what I do. As for my hair, there definitely are more beads than last time we saw each other. I've been adding them more and more in recent months; each bead represents someone special to me. " Brianne grinned.

"Ok, first off, I never taught you anything… It's not my fault you interpreted my stories in a weird way. I just told 'em, you took something away from them. You truly are a weird person in that respect. And second, I know the story behind the beads. I was the one who gave you the idea, remember? Sheesh, you are weird and forgetful… though I am glad you have more people in your life now. You used to be so closed off and suspicious of everything and everyone." Lizzy retorted, laughing. She saw Brianne as a sister, and they treated each other as such; good natured teasing and ribbing included. Brianne shoved Lizzy slightly, causing the other girl to stumble backward. Recovering her balance, Lizzy pushed back, making Brianne step back. The two girls laughed a moment, and then fell silent as a faint voice stuttered.

"L-Lizzy? Brianne?"

Around them, their surroundings swirled with color and fuzzy images before resolving back to the way they had been before. Lizzy and Brianne spun around; eyes flashing gold and orange respectively, as they unconsciously accessed their power, looking for the source of the voice. Behind them, in the doorway of one of the ruined buildings, stood a figure, shrouded in shadow, the pale face bright against the darkness.

"Katie!" Lizzy cried, running for the figure.

"N-no, no, no! Stay back!" The figure shrieked, stumbling backwards into the ruin.

"Wait, Lizzy… no Wait!"Brianne yelled. Ignoring her, Lizzy charged forward, and felt as if she passed through a draft of air. Around her the scene changed, as if she had stepped into a different room. Inside she saw Katie staring at the scene before her, tears running down her face.

_A child sat on the floor of her playroom, slowly stacking the colorful wooden blocks, one on top of another, and then slowly she knocked them down, again and again. Usually, the girl would read books and stare out the window, ignoring all the toys that lay in pristine rows on the shelves, save one. Clutched to the four-year-Old's side was a large stuffed animal, a dolphin, colored with blues, silvers and greens. The toy was worn from use and the child never let it go even when it got her in trouble. Her nanny, watching from the corner of the rom, was worried; the only time the girl would play with a toy was when she knew her parents were coming. In fact, the girl's parents were due for a visit that day, requiring that the toddler had to be dressed as well as possible, meaning the frilly pink and mauve dress that she hated. Her nanny felt sorry for the girl, but there was nothing she could do to help her. The nanny finally gave up, unnerved by the silence and left the nursery, walking down the hall to chat with the other servants, knowing the child would stay in the room until it was time to see her parents. Gently she shut the door and walked away. Inside, the young girl looked up from her tower of blocks at the door and then looked out the big bay window at the lake behind the house. Sighing softly, she knocked down the tower once more, and then gently stacked the blocks back in the box that she had gotten them from. She set down the stuffed dolphin and got to her feet, picking up the box of blocks. As she walked over to the shelves to put the box away, the sky outside the windows darkened suddenly. The young child turned from the shelves, confused as to why the light had gone from the room. She walked over to the window as quickly as the hated dress would allow her, pressing her face against the panes of glass, trying to see out. The darkness was absolute; she could not see anything, not the lake, or the back yard, not even her swing set by the deck._

_Suddenly there was movement outside the window. The girl jumped back, surprised. The darkness swirled outside, and then seeped through the glass. Shocked the child skittered backwards. When she reached her dolphin toy, she grabbed it, holding it tightly and protectively. The darkness swirled inside, coalescing into a hazy form, spirals of darkness branching off and reaching, grasping, much taller than the girl. She whimpered, frightened, backing away slowly. A voice whispered throughout the room, chilling and evil._

"_There you are… come child… let me see your fear…"_

_The child cried out, still backing away. Suddenly she backed into something hard. She turned, terrified, to find another figure, this one solid, colored blue and silver, still taller than her, though not as tall as the shadowy figure in front of her; the blue being seemed to be made of metal, wearing silver armor, yellowish eyes flashing from behind a blue mask. _

"_Stand behind me, little one," said a soft voice from the blue being. The child stared at the blue one, and then glanced back at the shadow, which took a step forward, an evil chuckle hissing from it. The girl squeaked in fear and jumped behind the blue being, clinging to its legs and staring at the other figure. The blue being smiled maternally down at the girl, but when it looked at the shadowy figure, the expression on its mask could only be described as livid. _

"_How fucking dare you come here and frighten her, you bastard!" The blue being hissed at the shadow, in another language. The young girl looked up at her, uncomprehendingly, not understanding what the blue being was saying. The shadow being hissed a laugh._

"_Wouldn't your brothers be shocked to hear you using such language, O Toa of Water?" It said using the same language as the blue being, "It surprises me that so gentle seeming an element can also be quite vicious." The shadow being laughed again, causing the Toa to shiver slightly, and the child to shudder and hug her legs harder. _

"_Come child… I only want to keep you from her power… nothing bad will happen…"_

_The voice called to the young girl. The Toa shifted her stance slightly, hiding the girl behind her even more protectively. Unnoticed behind her, a tendril of shadow inched closer and closer to the child. It snared her around her middle and dragged her away from the Toa's legs. She screamed once, loud, shattering the silence and dropped her stuffed animal. The Toa leaped to grab her, missing by a fraction of an inch, and coming up swearing. _

_Locked in the grip of the shadows, the child cried in terror, the touch of the shadow causing her to see nightmare images and hear the evil voice calling to her, saying frightening things to her. She thrashed, trying to free herself, but the shadows merely constricted around her. _

_Suddenly, there was a shockwave of blue light, cutting through the darkness and a silver bladed ax broke through the shadow's grip on the girl, glowing faintly with blue light. The Toa caught her and rolled away to relative safety, the shadow being thrashing in pain, a second silver ax stuck in its shoulder. _

"_I will return!" the voice snarled, attempting to grab the child again. The Toa lifted a hand and from it emanated a powerful jet of glowing water, which tore through the shadow being, causing it to vanish. An unearthly shriek sounded, causing the child to cry out in alarm again then hid her face against the Toa's chest. Then there was silence and all was still._

_The Toa knelt, cradling the child close. _

"_Are you alright, little one?" she asked, worry creasing her mask. The child, sniffling, nodded and hugged herself closer to the Toa's warm heart-light. The Toa smiled gently, allowing the child to calm herself down, holding her gently so as not to hurt her with the metal claws that made up her armored hands. When the child pulled away and tried to sit up, the Toa shifted her careful grip and set her on her feet. _

"_W-what is you n-name?" The child asked timidly._

"_Gali" the Toa responded in a soft comforting voice, "I am a Toa. What is your name, little one? _

"_I'm K-Katie… n-nice to m-meet you, Miss Gali." The child said shyly. Gali smiled reassuringly._

"_Will you do me a favor, Katie?" The Toa of Water asked, handing the girl her dolphin back. When the girl nodded, hugging the dolphin as hard as she could, Gali continued. "I want you to have something… It will help keep that scary thing from coming back and hurting you." _

_Gali reached into her subspace pocket and pulled out a necklace with a charm shaped like a drop of water, clear and hollow; holding blue colored water that softly glowed. Gali held it out to the young girl, who reached a timid hand out and touched it. When nothing happened, Katie gently took the charm and held it, studying it closely._

"_Don't lose this. It will help you someday." Katie nodded, smiling slightly, hugging the necklace close with her stuffed dolphin. Behind them, the door burst open, revealing Katie's nanny, and one of the butlers breathing heavily, a heavy bar stool in his hands. The nanny had heard the child's screams but had been unable to get the doors open. She and the butler had been using the bar stool as battering ram. The girl ran to the nanny, holding out the necklace to show her. The nanny picked the child up, thinking that she was frightened; but aside from a tear-stained face, the child was fine._

"_Dahlia! Dahlia! Look at what I have!" Katie said, showing the glowing necklace hanging from her hand. _

"_It's beautiful… where did you get it, Miss?" Dahlia asked, shocked. Katie turned to point at Gali. But when she turned, the Toa of Water was gone. Katie wiggled down from Dahlia's arms and ran back to where the Toa had stood, looking for some evidence that the Toa had been there. All that was left was a damp impression on the floor._

As the scene in front of her faded and the scenery faded to grey, Lizzy walked over to where Katie knelt on the floor and crouched down next to her. She hugged Katie, who leaned her head on Lizzy's shoulder, her tears dry.

"That was… well that was something else…" Lizzy said hoarsely, trying to chuckle and lighten the mood, but only succeeding in a weak cough. Katie sniffled. Lizzy squeezed her hug tighter for a moment and then let go, rubbing her eyes and standing up. Around the two girls, the shadows swirled; other fractured images and darkened colors floating by. Lizzy suddenly understood where she was.

"These are your thoughts, aren't they, Katie?"

"I-I think so… I only get this way when I am reminded of that day. I still have nightmares from when that shadow grabbed me…"

"Dream-sharing… ok, not your typical Light Toa power but I can deal with it… or would you call this though sharing? … Oh well, whatever it is… we can fix this… we can figure this out." Lizzy mumbled to herself, watching other memories drift past. She looked down at Katie who was sitting hugging her knees, while the darkness of her own mind pressed around her.

"Katie…" Lizzy said. Katie looked up and saw Lizzy crouching down next to her. "You don't have to be afraid any more… Yeah, Makuta is here, but now you have the ability to fight him yourself now. Sure there is still fear to deal with. Hell, I was terrified last night when he showed up, but I knew I could beat him. You just have to find your own way to fight him." Lizzy rose to her feet and stretched a hand down for Katie to take. "I'll teach you what I can but the rest is up to you. You are a lot stronger and braver than you think; you just have to realize it." Katie just continued to look at her. Lizzy beckoned her fingers encouragingly. Katie hesitated, then reached her own hand out, grasping the other girl's. Lizzy stepped back and pulled Katie to her feet, then hugged her. "Don't worry, alright? We are here for you… Brianne and I… oh crap…Where's Brianne?" Lizzy turned around searching for her best friend. Katie looked around.

"I don't see her. Hey Lizzy? Why is your face glowing?"

"What?"

"Your face… it's glowing."

"Can we worry about my glowing face later? My best friend is missing. I was talking to her right before we found you… where'd she go?" Lizzy was getting frantic. If Brianne was lost inside Katie's mind, something bad could happen, (She wasn't sure what but something bad would most likely happen).

"Katie… can you feel Brianne anywhere in your head?" Lizzy asked, but Katie shook her head negative. Suddenly from somewhere else, they heard Brianne calling for help. Lizzy and Katie glanced at each other, and then sprinted forward, not sure where the sound was coming from, but instinct taking over.

As they ran forward, Lizzy felt something change, like they had crossed some sort of invisible boundary

***Outside the light shield***

Tanma was dozing, while Solek stared at the shield, bored out of his mind. Suddenly, the shield flared with light, brighter and brighter, the blue tint changing and shifting to more of a brown and an orange, and then the light dimmed down to its original intensity.

***Inside the light shield***

Katie stopped running a couple of steps ahead of Lizzy, who stood frozen. When the two girls had crossed the invisible boundary that she had felt, their surroundings had gone from grey to brown and resolved into a modest house. It was two stories high, brick façade with siding on the back and sides. The front garden was well tended and full of pale flowers. The attached garage was closed, the door painted brown. On the second story, one of the windows had orange curtains hanging, blowing in the non-existent wind. Katie looked at Lizzy, who was staring at the house like she was seeing a ghost.

"Lizzy? Are you alright?" Lizzy only shook her head then ran forward toward the house, beckoning for Katie to follow her. At the second story window was a familiar shadowy figure.

_No no no no no! _Lizzy thought, _she's remembering too. This is not good._ She thundered through the door, up the stairs and burst into one of the smaller bedrooms.

Brianne stood next to her younger self, plastered against the wall, staring wide-eyed at the figure in her window, her mouth open in a silent scream, wind whipping her hair into a frenzy, belongings thrown against the walls as the Shadow grew larger. Lizzy ran forward, glowing like a light bulb, and grabbed Brianne by the shoulders.

"Bri! BRI! Snap out of it! It's just a memory! It's not real!" Lizzy yelled, shaking her best friend by the shoulders, ignoring the sobs of Brianne's younger self. Brianne (the teenage version) gasped, eyes going from glazed over with fear and remembrance to alert. Around them, everything froze. Papers, clothing, knick-knacks and other personal items hung in the air; time seemed to be frozen. Lizzy let go of Brianne's shoulders and taking a step back, as the orange-clad girl shook her head to clear it, the beads in her hair clattering together. Brianne looked at Lizzy, eyes wary and still afraid.

"Bri? Are you alright?" Lizzy asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. Katie stood in the doorway poking a scarf that hung in front of her face, caught, suspended in the air by the time-stoppage.

Brianne sighed. "I guessed what was happening to Katie, and I thought that if she could face her past I should too, so it doesn't bother me anymore." She explained, "I don't want to freeze up or over react like I did last night again. And I thought I could handle the memory by myself." Brianne refused to make eye contact; instead she glared at the shadow in the window. Katie ducked under the scarf and slowly made her way into the room, carefully dodging objects, until she was standing beside Lizzy and across from Brianne.

"I've been struggling with that memory for years. It took another person's pain and willingness to help me before I could understand that I can get through it and change how Makuta affects me." Katie said softly. Lizzy looked at her, an incredulous look on her face.

"Another person's pain? Whaddya mean by… eh, never mind. I'll ask you about that later."

"Well, while you were in my head and seeing my memory…"

"I SAID I would ask later… now is not exactly the best time. We need to focus on Brianne right now." Lizzy said gesturing to her best friend.

"There's really not much to tell. I was about two and a half years old at the time, so this was just before my parents died." Brianne said, preparing herself to relive her past. "I was just playing quietly with the rock collection my dad had gotten for me, you know, the polished quartz you can get from museums? Yeah I had some of those. Then all of a sudden this happened." She gestured to the disaster that had been her childhood room. "You might want to step back. If I remember correctly, it gets pretty crowded in here." As Lizzy and Katie stepped back, Brianne took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Around her, the memory began again.

_Brianne tried to back farther from the dark thing that was trying to get through her window. She was scared, though she didn't know why; she also didn't know why this was happening. Around her, on the floor, the polished stones that her daddy had gotten for her rattled and rolled around, knocking against her feet. The Shadow in the window cried out in a different language, the words grating against her ears, as the wind shrieked around the room. The shrieks of the wind sounded like people screaming, causing the little girl to cringe and cover her ears._

""_Top it!" She cried, thinking that the screams were from really people. Her mom had always taught her to help others, even if she was scared. ""Top Hurting Dem! Weave Dem Awone!" (Translation: Stop it, Stop hurting them. Leave them alone) _

_The Shadow laughed at her, the wind scrabbling at her clothes, tugging at her, trying to bring her closer to the shadows._

"_Now why would I do that? I like hearing people scream… Fear is a wonderful delicious thing."_

_Brianne didn't understand what the voice meant, but she did recognize that it wouldn't stop hurting whoever it was that it was hurting. She grabbed the polished rocks at her feet and threw them, one by one at the shadow. The first couple missed, rebounding off the wall, then a few flew through the Shadow. She realized that she could do nothing to stop the Shadow. It laughed at her. A thick stream of Shadow shot out to grab the girl. There was a blur of brown and silver and Brianne found herself flying through the Shadow and out the window. She laugh, despite her fear, at the sheer recklessness of it all, as she flipped and twisted, losing all sense of up or down. Above her, she heard a deep voice laughing with her._

"_That was mighty brave of you, little warrior. Why don't you let me take care of this?" The deep voice chuckled, sounding like the ground rumbling, and making little Brianne think of the clattering noise that rocks made when they are dumped out. She nodded, and found herself sitting on the ground, right side up, watching as the big brown something stood in front of her._

"_Why do you protect her, Toa? When she is useless to you? Such a small weak child is hardly worth your time. She can offer you nothing, and no one listens to her anyways… it is pointless to protect someone so worthless to you… give her to me…"_

_Brianne growled adorably when she heard the voice, but at the same time, she was scared that the big brown something would believe the 'scary mean' voice and leave her alone, by herself._

_Sensing her distress, the brown and silver Toa looked over his shoulder and smiled at her._

"_Don't you worry, little warrior. I've heard it before and I didn't believe it then and I certainly don't believe it now!" Brianne smiled at the Toa, as his warm voice reassured her. The Toa reminded her of her daddy, always happy no matter what was going on._

"_Now as for you, you big stinking dust cloud." The Toa growled in his native tongue, holding his Climbing Claws at the ready. "I suggest you clear up and clear out. I have half a mind to turn you into a tornado and send you shooting into the sky. She doesn't deserve to hear your voice in her head anymore that she deserves to be frightened or upset."_

_The Shadow chuckled, the sound hissing through the air. It paused, as if to respond, then, in a blur of movement, swooped down, heading for the child. The Toa moved with unnatural speed and grace for someone of his stature, faster than the shadow, and placing himself in front of the girl, spun around like a ballerina, causing the Shadow to be caught up in a cyclone, the girl laughing at the Toa. The Toa stepped out of the tornado grinning and watched as it traveled away, carrying the cursing Shadow being away. The Toa turned to the girl. She struggled to her feet and looked up at the Toa. _

"_Dat bad pwerson is a big Meany to make awll dose people cwy wike dat." She pouted an adorable scowl on her face. (Translation: That bad person is a big Meany to make all those people cry like that). _

"_Well little warrior, perhaps someday you will make sure that he doesn't hurt them anymore, ok? Until then you have to keep yourself safe until then." Said the brown Toa, gently ruffling her hair. Brianne, peeking out from under his hand [which was almost bigger than her entire head], grinned up at him._

"_Oh Wight! Momma says it's powite to tewl people my name when dey hewp me. I'm Bwianne! What's your name?" The toddler asked, studying the Claws hanging loosely from the Toa's hands. (Translation: Oh right! Momma says it's polite to tell people my name when they help me. I'm Brianne! What's your name?)_

"_I'm called Pohatu." Laughed the Toa, after a moment of deciphering what Brianne had said. He stowed his Claws in his subspace pocket. He noticed something on the ground near his foot and bent down to pick it up._

"_Ah, perfect. Brianne?" _

"_Yes Poo-Hatoo?" the girl giggled in reply._

"_Um… it's PO-Hatu, silly girl. Anyways, I have something for you, to help keep you safe." The big brown teddy bear of a Toa said, kneeling down to the girl's level. He held out his hand, one of Brianne's stones resting on the palm of his hand. _

"_Oooh pwetty… Hey dat's mine innit?" Brianne asked, holding onto the side of his hand. (Translation: Oh pretty… hey that's mine isn't it?)_

"_Yes it is; I just changed it a bit for you. Now you can wear it around your neck." Pohatu explained._

"_It's awll gwowy now. Tanks Po-Hatoo. I wike it." (Translation: It's all glowey now. Thanks Pohatu. I like it.)_

The scene faded, leaving Brianne standing where the 2-year-old memory version of her had stood looking at the stone the Toa had placed in her hand. Katie and Lizzy looked at each other, trying to suppress their laughter. When Brianne turned, the two girls burst into peals of laughter, Katie holding her stomach while Lizzy was on her hands and knees, banging on the floor. Brianne looked at them, smiling but confused.

"Why are you two laughing?" She asked in a calm voice, much different than her younger self. Hearing her voice the other two laughed all the harder. After about 5 minutes, Katie finally calmed downed enough to explain.

"You were just so cute and your lisp was so adorable, but Lizzy said something about possibly needing subtitles to understand, and then it looked like Pohatu was having a hard time understanding too… and now that I think about it, it's not really that funny, but in the moment… Man…" Katie panted, still giggling now and then. On the ground, Lizzy rolled onto her back, choking slightly, still giggling.

"Sorry Bri… It's just that, I remembered when you came to St. Dom's and you spoke with perfect elocution. It just made me laugh."

Brianne rolled her eyes. Around them, the brown and orange swirls faded until the three girls were standing, surrounded by nothing but whiteness. Lizzy scrambled to her feet, remembering this was where she met the Atriz. Before the three appeared three other figures; one gold, one blue and one brown. The three human girls shared a look and stood, Lizzy moving forward, almost protectively, with Brianne on her right, a step behind, and Katie on Lizzy's left, two steps behind. The three figures were soon close enough to be recognized; it was three of the Toa Atriz, the ones who had given the girls their power. The three Toa neared the three girls and stopped about six paces away, seemingly impassive. Lizzy narrowed her eyes and shifted her stance ever so slightly. In front of her, the gold colored Toa suddenly grinned.

_At Ease, little one._ Takaena said, _we only wish to speak with you._ Her first words causing Lizzy to snap to attention, and then stand with her hands behind her back in a very military esque pose. The other two Toa looked at the gold Toa, then back at their respective teens. Lizzy gave Takaena a wry smile and relaxed. Her training as a Cadet in the Civil Air Patrol had kicked in for a moment at Takaena's words. Behind her, Brianne grinned at the brown Toa, while Katie gave the blue, a timid smile.

"Yo, Amix! What's up, my brown Toa friend?" Brianne cheerfully said. Lizzy chuckled at her friend's attempt at slang, and shook her head in amusement.

_Not much, Brianne. Takaena, here wanted to talk to Elizabeth here and me and Vizshola decided to tag along._ Amix said, gesturing to his two teammates. Brianne bobbed her head in understanding and clapped Lizzy on the back.

"A team of Toa you don't know… and they use your full first name. Harsh reality there, huh Liz?" Lizzy just grimaced slightly at the orange teen. Lizzy liked to think she knew everything about the Bionicle universe. She also hated it when people used her full name. Brianne knew this and could not resist messing with her friend. Lizzy turned back to the Toa.

"You wanted to speak with me?" She asked. Not saying a word, the gold Toa beckoned for her to follow. Lizzy shrugged, gave the other two a look that said _stay here; if I need you I'll signal,_ and allowed Takaena to lead her a little ways of the others. Once they were out of earshot, the Atriz of Light concentrated very hard. Lizzy looked at her, concerned for the Toa. Then the old Toa spoke. Not with her mind, as Lizzy expected, but actually spoke.

"Elizabeth…" The Toa said.

"Whoa! You can talk? Like, with your mouth and stuff? Cool!"

"Yes, Little one." The old Toa smiling gently, said. "I needed to come and explain something's to you, now that you are learning more about your powers and gathering your team. And I did not wish my brother and sister to overhear." Lizzy nodded in understanding. Takaena then proceeded to explain many different things to the teen. Especially about the teens abilities and how it pertained to the Atriz.

Back with Brianne and Katie, the two girls were still faced with their Toa counterparts. Brianne was chatting amicably with Amix, but Katie was standing slightly behind her, a little afraid of the Water Toa. Vizshola understood; the girl she had chosen to receive her power was very much like herself: shy and thoughtful. But Vizshola also knew how to coax the water powered teen out of her shell. The Toa looked at her hand and willed a small sphere of water to appear. Katie watched with interest. Vizshola, not paying the girl any attention, but still watching her from the corners of her mask, gently manipulated the water into a thin stream, which swirled around and tied its self in knots. Katie slowly took a step forward, out from behind Brianne. Vizshola was turned partially away from her, so Katie thought that she could not see her. Very slowly, Katie crept forward. She reached out her hand and called to the water. Some of the water separated from the rest and flowed over to twist and turn over Katie's outstretched hands. Vizshola's eyes followed the water when it broke away, her eyes flickering up to Katie's face and then back to the water. Katie giggled softly and sent her water chasing the Toa's. Vizshola smiled and soon the two were talking quietly. Across from them, Brianne and Amix were playing soccer with a rock, bouncing it off of their legs and chests, basically showing off.

A little later, the two light powered beings rejoined the others. Takaena smiled at her teammates. They said farewell and faded away. Lizzy absentmindedly bid the three Atriz goodbye, her mind filled with what Takaena had told her. Brianne and Katie shared a look then approached the other girl.

"Soooo… what's eating you?" Brianne asked, leaning on Lizzy's shoulder.

"Just… stuff." Lizzy explained lamely. "I'm still trying to process everything she told me."

"What did she tell you?" Katie asked, still contorting the water into fantastic shapes.

"Ah… nothing"

"Lizzy…" Brianne and Katie said in unison, folding their arms at the same time.

"I mean… nothing that I feel like sharing at the moment… it's not really important."

"Riiight… Whatever." The other two replied. "What did she tell you?"

"Ummm… oh she told me where to find the next two members of our team! Apparently the Earth powered kid has met up with the ice powered teen and they are heading our way… actually, they should be here in about 20 minutes."

"What!"Katie burst out, "There are new people coming?"

"Yeah didn't I just say that? Twenty minutes tops." Lizzy said.

"Ugh… a little warning would be nice! I'm a mess right now and am in no condition to meet new people! I need a shower and I have to do my hair, and my makeup. Plus I need to change clothes and wash the dirty ones. Oh man, oh man oh man… How do we get out of here? Lizzy!" Katie exploded, going on and on, while Brianne laughed and Lizzy just looked at her like she was crazy.

"Lizzy! You have to get us out of here!" Katie nearly screeched.

"Okay, okay. Calm down, girl! Sheesh. Takaena explained that this is part of the original Mask of Light's powers."

"What do you mean 'original Mask of Light'?" Brianne asked, knowing the stories almost as well as Lizzy.

"Oh yeah… apparently, Takanuva has the second version, like the newer model… and he doesn't even know half of the powers, according to Takaena." Lizzy explained.

"Hmm that's kinda interesting… I wonder if-" Brianne started to say but she was cut off by a frantic Katie.

"GIRLS!"

"Oh right… hang on." Lizzy said, screwing up her face in concentration. Across her face flickered her mask and the whiteness around them vanished.

***Outside the Light Shield***

Tanma lay on his back, sleeping, soaking up the sunlight. Solek was leafing through Lizzy's art book, intensely interested. Suddenly the light shield dissipated. Katie shook herself free of Lizzy's arms, dashed to her bag, grabbed it and took off at a run for the Oasis. Lizzy and Brianne laughed. Tanma cracked an eye open, and looked at the two remaining girls.

"What was that all about?" he asked.

"Ah, just learning some interesting things about my teammates." Lizzy said.

"And talking to the Toa who gave us our powers." Brianne added, "Apparently though sharing is an ability of Lizzy's mask."

"Whatever" Tanma said, "what's got the blue one in a tizzy?"

Oh, well apparently two more members of our team are arriving today. They should be here soon." Brianne said, as Lizzy walked over to Solek.

"Find anything you like, Solek?" She asked, tapping the page he was looking at. The Av-Matoren looked up at her, grinning.

"You have some pretty neat stuff in here, Lizzy. " He said.

"Ah it's all pretty crappy. Brianne is better than I am and so is Katie, think… ask them later about it."

Solek agreed, closing the pad and handing it back to its owner. Lizzy smiled and stashed it back in her bag, then grabbed a fruit and tossed it to Brianne, getting one for herself.

"I wonder what these new kids are going to be like." Brianne said, taking a bite of the fruit.

"I'm not sure, but Takaena hinted that I know them, at least a little." Lizzy replied, wiping fruit juice off her chin.

"Yeah, Amix said something similar. He said I would definitely know the Earth kid… I wonder who it is." Brianne mused.

Lizzy opened her mouth to say something, when suddenly, they heard Katie scream. The girls stared at each other, both thinking _oh no, not again_, then scrambling to their feet and sprinting to the Oasis, Lizzy pulling out her sword, while Brianne her chain Kama's. When they burst through the bushes, and skidded to a halt, they were met with Katie, wrapped in a towel, hair dripping with shampoo faced, swearing at to figures on the other side. The water in the Oasis had risen up and shot like daggers at the two on the other side, but had frozen at the touch of one of the figures. Lizzy and Brianne understood why Katie had screamed and reacted the way she had; both of the newcomers were boys. The one who had frozen he water, quickly turned to the newly come girls, spinning what looked like the Bionicle equivalent of a Bo-Staff, save that it had two long blades attached to the ends. The other person jumped forward swinging a huge ax. The figure brought the ax down shattering the ice, which the other boy redirected at the girls; hundreds of high speed ice shards bore down on the girls.

**A/N: Ok so please review and all that jazz… and this:**

**I need some help… I was going through the Character descriptions I wrote for the new guys I introduced this chapter (the Ice and Earth teens) and I'm really not happy with how I wrote them. **

**Here's where YOU… yes, YOU, my wonderful readers, come in!**

**I need to re-write the characters' descriptions, and I would love to see what you guys come up with. Please post a review that give a description of the character's looks and then kind of like a brief synopsis of their life before this story. Use the template below. Don't worry about mask powers or how they look as Bionicles, I've got that covered, but I still need help with the rest. Also I haven't decided whether or not to keep the Bionicle names I've given them or not. The Next Chapter can't go up until I have their character descriptions. You can see the descriptions for Lizzy, Brianne and Katie on my profile… in addition to links to my deviant art page to see what Lizzy and Katie look like. (Please excuse my horrible art work… I'm still learning to use my tablet and Photoshop Elements)**

**OC applicant**

**Human Name:**

**Bionicle Name: **

**Nickname(s):**

**Power Set: Ice or Earth**

**Age:**

**Height:**

**Eye color: **

**Hair Color:**

**Fighting Style:**

**Love Interest (if any [it can be a Matoren or a Toa]):**

**Description:**

**Below are the descriptions I originally had. Feel free to use parts of it for your OCs.**

**Human Name: Gregory Miner**

**Bionicle Name: Hakey Rahini (Pronounced: Hah-Kai)**

**Nickname(s): Greg, The Scholar, Wise boy**

**Power Set: Earth**

**Age: 17**

**Height: 6'4" (Lizzy hate's that he so much taller than her)**

**Eye color: Black**

**Hair Color: Jet black**

**Fighting Style: Strength based**

**Love Interest (if any [it can be a Matoren or a Toa]): Unknown**

**Necklace Description: a small vial of dirt hanging from a leather cord. Usually keeps it in his pocket.**

**Description: Greg grew up among books. His Father is a professor of History and his Mom of Literature at a small College in the Midwest. Greg grew up sitting in on his parents' classes, even though much of the information and conversations were over his head. Because he grew up on a college campus, Greg is the most book smart of the Rahini. Greg was the last of the Rahini to encounter Makuta as a kid, being almost 8 at the time. This meant that while he remembered it better than the others, he just though it was a crazy dream. What he did remember of Onua was that the Black Earth Toa said only a few words, but was very wise. Greg is very much the same. He is the tallest of the Rahini and is very big, very muscular (think defensive back in professional football). But despite his imposing physique, Greg is gentle and understanding, preferring scholarly pursuits to brute strength and sports. But he is in no way a softy. When he arrived in the Bionicle Universe, it took him a long while to actually believe what happened to him. But when he did, he developed an avid interest in in Bionicle History and Legend. Greg has the best vision of the Rahini and is also considered the wisest in non-Bionicle matters.**

**Human Name: Joshua Stevenson**

**Bionicle Name: Jarik Rahini**

**Nickname(s): Josh, Frostbite, Cold Snap**

**Power Set: Ice**

**Age: 16**

**Height: 6' 0"**

**Eye color: Ice blue**

**Hair Color: Human: Dark Blond; Bionicle: Silver**

**Fighting Style: Merciless**

**Love Interest (if any [it can be a Matoren or a Toa]): None**

**Necklace description: A shard of ice that has never melted, hangs on a chain.**

**Description: Josh is very much a lone Wolf. All the Rahini know about him is that he is the youngest of his family and that his family is slightly dysfunctional. Josh choses to keep his past secret (He's not evil, just not a very sharing person). Josh had his run in with Makuta at about five years old, but it had no effect on him. Kopaka did little aside from getting rid of Makuta and tossing Josh's necklace to the boy. Josh thinks with cool logic and doesn't sugar coat the facts. He also has a strict sense of justice and is thought, by Katie, Brianne and Evangeline at least, to be emotionless. Josh also holds little respect for other Toa, save Kopaka, who he regards as potentially dangerous and he respects him, though barley, and his namesake, Jarik Atriz. Jarik is the Rahini's best Strategist.**

**Ok so please help me out here, guys! And Please review. Tell me how I'm doing and what I need to fix.**


	7. Ice and Earth: Prelude to Battle

**A/N: I appologize for the first time you read the chapter. I could not get the edit thing to work on FF... It kept booting me out of my account for some reason. Anyways, here is the New Chapter!**

**Thank you sooooooo much to LokaCola and Shatter Dave for reviewing.**

**These two are also the master minds behind the new Ice and Earth Characters! Thankyouthankyouthankyou so so so so much guys!**

**On another note, if anyone has ideas for the next part of the story, please feel free to leave a suggestion!**

**And, as always, I don't own **

**and**

**Please Review**

****Previously****

_Lizzy opened her mouth to say something, when suddenly, they heard Katie scream. The girls stared at each other, both thinking oh no, not again, and then scrambling to their feet and sprinting to the Oasis, Lizzy pulling out her sword, while Brianne her chain Kama's. When they burst through the bushes, and skidded to a halt, they were met with the sight of Katie, wrapped in a towel, hair dripping with shampoo faced, swearing at two figures on the other side. The water in the Oasis had risen up and shot like daggers at the two on the other side, but had frozen at the touch of one of the figures. Lizzy and Brianne understood why Katie had screamed and reacted the way she had; both of the newcomers were boys. The one who had frozen the water, quickly turned to the newly come girls, spinning what looked like the Bionicle equivalent of a Bo-Staff, save that it had two long blades attached to the ends. The other person jumped forward swinging a huge ax. The figure brought the ax down shattering the ice, which the other boy redirected at the girls; hundreds of high speed ice shards bore down on the girls._

****Now****

Brianne stepped forward, planting her feet firmly. Eyes glowing bright orange, she brought her arms up and crossed in front of her face, like a shield and with a rumbling groan, a wall of stone sprang out of the ground at the three girl's feet. The ice shards shattered against the rock with the sound of breaking glass. Lizzy rested a hand on Katie's shoulder, causing the girl to look at her. The three girls shared a glance and nodded. Lizzy backed up a step, then nodded to Brianne, who stood one hand outstretched to support the wall. She turned to Lizzy and with her other hand motioned upwards. A column of stone shot out of the ground, launching the Light Powered teen into the sky. Katie, towel wrapped securely around her, dropped her things and ran to the edge of the wall. Concentrating hard, she gestured with her hands, catching Lizzy in a stream of water that deposited her on the opposite shore line. Lizzy hit the ground running. Her sword flashed in her hand. The Ice Powered boy charged forward, his staff splitting into two small tomahawks, the handles retracting to a manageable length. Lizzy dodged a wild swing from the Earth teen, and then spun around to avoid a chop from the Ice. Her attacks rang out, metal on metal, as her sword glanced off the side of Earth's ax. The ground around all three teens' feet rumbled threateningly while the temperature dropped significantly. Lizzy jumped to the side, dodging ice shards; Brianne ran around her wall and threw one end of her weapon. The Kama wrapped around one of the Ice boy's Tomahawks giving Brianne the chance to jerk the chain and drag the teen backward and off balanced. The boy spun around and launched himself at the girl. Brianne set her stance and met the boy head on. Lizzy staggered a few steps back; the Earth powered teen's blows were much harder to block than she anticipated. She dodged around, dancing out of the boy's range. She kept moving, aiming to tire out her more heavily armed opponent. Earth watched Lizzy's movements, reading the pattern of her steps. Suddenly he lunged forward, swinging his ax faster than Lizzy thought possible for a weapon of that size; the flat of his blade struck Lizzy on her side, sending the teen flying. Lizzy gasped in pain when she landed, pain exploding in her side. She swore loudly and jumped to her feet. She charged her opponent, swinging her sword, her movements slightly staccato while her face was screwed up in pain. Brianne kept her Kamas in defensive position, her strikes and moves merely deflecting her opponent's swings and blows away from herself, using his own momentum against him. She struggled to use her usual level of defensiveness, because Ice struck quickly, his movements snapping out then recoiling quickly. Soon Brianne found her weapons locked against the Ice teens. It became a power struggle, each trying to overpower the other by strength alone.

During the fight, Katie tried to do what she could, but found she could do little wrapped in a beach towel, and trying to preserve her modesty and dignity. She ducked behind Brianne's wall and quickly threw on the first clothes she laid hands on. As it turned out, she grabbed a blue green tank top and a pair of denim shorts. She pulled them on and, ignoring her shoes, ran back to the fight. She found Lizzy fighting recklessly, blinded by pain, the Earth teen struggling to match her wild blows. Katie then saw Brianne behind the warring Light and Earth, locked in combat against a boy dressed in white and silver.

"Please, everyone stop! Guys! Come one…. Stop!" Called Katie trying to get everyone's attention. The warring teens paid her no mind, not hearing her soft voice.

"HEY! Everyone… please! Stop!" Katie tried again, raising her voice. She found that her voice still shook from her ordeal within her memories. The Water powered teen steeled herself. Suddenly, from within herself, she felt a power, different from her water powers. It called to her and told her what to do; she closed her eyes, trying to hear it over the sounds of the battle before her. She took a deep breath. Suddenly her eyes snapped open, glowing yellowish, and around her face flickered the glowing blue-green image of a Mask of Power.

"ENOUGH!" She yelled, "STOP FIGHTING!" The four warring teens froze; Lizzy had her sword against Earth's neck, while his ax was against her side (the injured side), Brianne and Ice again had their weapons locked. "You have to stop fighting. Everyone, back off and calm down. Take a seat." Katie said, struggling to control her temper. Nobody moved a muscle, but they were all surrounded by a faint glow. Lizzy and the Ice Boy suddenly understood what was happening and started to struggle, trying to escape. Lizzy's mask re-appeared and glowed bright as she tried to shield herself, but the mask's grip on her was strong.

"SIT! NOW!" Katie yelled, losing what little control over her temper that she had remaining. The teens were forced back from each other and landed on their backs, hard against the unforgiving ground.

"I don't know how you got that power, Girly..." Growled Ice, struggling to his feet, "But I won't let you use it on me again." He took a single step toward Katie, but stopped when he hit a glowing gold wall. Lizzy and Brianne struggled to their own feet, Brianne coughing up dust and shivering, while Lizzy was limping, her right hand pressed against her side in an attempt to stave off the pain, the other hand stretched in front of her, keeping the wall of light in place. Brianne warily watched the newcomers, her Kamas hanging loosely from her grip, the chain coiled around her wrist.

"Look… I'm sorry I threw the pond at you… I over reacted. But do you really need to fight with us? We are on the same team… I think. Can we just stop and talk this over?" Katie said, mask glittering dangerously in contrast with her soft apologetic voice. Lizzy opened her mouth to say something, when Brianne burst out.

"Wait just a minute here! Hold on… Mark? Is that you?"

The Earth powered teen looked at Brianne and recognition flashed across his face.

"Brianne! Wow, I didn't recognize you, you looked so fierce… not your usual cheerful self; though you do look substantially smaller without your pads on."

The Earth boy strode forward at the same time as Brianne. The two grabbed each others arm in a rough handshake. Brianne turned to her companions, smiling once more.

"Girls, I'd like you to meet Mark Johnson. He was one of my best friends. The Star Quarterback of my high school football team and the only guy on our team who didn't mind plowing me over during practice."

Katie waved hello, still looking apologetic. Lizzy, though, dropped her left hand (the one holding up the light wall in front of the Ice boy), and fell to her knees, moaning in pain. She looked up at Mark, smiling slightly.

"Yeah, hi Mark, nice to meet you… I think I met the dull edge of your ax." Lizzy panted, clutching at her side. Katie knelt next to Lizzy, trying to see what was wrong. She moved Lizzy's hand off the girl's injured side. Lizzy hissed in pain, trying not to yell and swear at her friend who was only trying to help. Katie's eye's widened when she saw the damage; the whole side of Lizzy's right rib cage was mottled purple, green and blue already. She gently pressed against it, trying to determine the extent of the damage. Lizzy howled in pain, swatting Katie's hands away, swearing at the top of her lungs. Katie tried to hold the struggling girl still so she could do something to help. Brianne's orange covered arms hooked themselves under Lizzy's arms, holding the thrashing girl steady. Lizzy suddenly felt a pair of cooler hands join Katie's as the Ice boy gently probed the injury.

"She's got at least one, maybe two broken ribs there. Do you guys have a camp that we could take her to?" He asked. Katie nodded and pointed towards the girls' camp, visible in the distance. Tanma and Solek, having heard the commotion, finally showed up.

"Whoa… What happened here?" Solek asked, looking around. There were columns and walls of Stone pegged with shards of Ice and splashed with residual Light, and the Water from the oasis was not in the oasis anymore; rather it was thrown every which-way. The water glistened in the light of the twin suns in the trees, and on the ground for yards in every direction. Mark mentioned how nice it looked; Brianne agreed but said it was too bad that she couldn't take a bath later. Katie stood and walked away, towards the empty Oasis. With a swift, fluid motion, almost like a dance, Katie pulled all the water off the trees and out of the sand. The droplets hung in the air, like thousands of shiny gemstones. The others watched, fascinated as Katie, still dancing, brought all the water back over the empty waterbed. Lizzy noticed the ice boy smirking, and saw him wave his hand in the direction of the water. Katie gasped as she felt her control over the water slip. The now frozen beads of ice rained down into the dry bed, filling it with a musical clattering sound. The ice boy gestured again and the ice melted into water again. Katie turned, giving the ice boy a small glare for ruining her fun, but still laughed and bowed at the others' applause. Katie approached the ice boy, who still sat next to Lizzy, though Lizzy was not paying attention to much, rather focusing on staying conscious.

"What is your name?" Katie asked, genuinely curious. The boy looked at her and at the others.

"My name is Dave, Dave Shatterfate."

"Long time, no see, Dave." Lizzy muttered, blinking rapidly. "Surprised you're here. The Bionicle Universe seems to be a bit out of your usual realm of fiction."

"Actually, I've been into Bionicle for a long time now. I'm just not as outgoing with my interests as you are, Elizabeth." Brianne laughed at the expression on Lizzy's face.

"Lizzy, please _David_. I can't stand my full name; sounds too mature, and Mata Nui, I am nothing but mature." Lizzy said, causing Dave to grumble about her use of his full name (the other teens distinctly heard "I am _not_ a bible hero!" in Dave's muttering).

"So you do know him?" Katie said loudly, over Brianne and Solek's chuckles.

"Can we add this to the list of things to talk about later? I'm in a lot of mother effing pain right now." Lizzy growled, trying not to move and glaring at the water powered teen. Katie dithered, trying to figure out how to get Lizzy back to camp without hurting her more, and jumped slightly, when Lizzy snarled at her, saying "Would you get over here and heal me already, Katie?"

"I can heal?"

The boys looked at Lizzy for an explanation, the two Matoren remaining silent, watching with fascination the interaction between the out-worlders, until Brianne piped up.

"Didn't Vizshola tell you that earlier, Katie? While Lizzy was talking to Takaena."

"Oh…she did?" Katie said, thinking back to the conversation she had with the ancient Water Toa while they were playing with the water. "Oh yeeeah, she did… that's right. So um… how do I do this?" Lizzy sighed and gestured to the water, but quickly rethought the movement when the pain in her side got worse.

"Ahh Ouch… ok don't do that." She mumbled, then looking at Katie she said, "It's part of your water powers. Just think about what you need to do."

"But I'm not sure what's wrong with you!" Katie cried out. Dave put a hand on her shoulder.

"Not to worry, Miss," He said, smiling slightly. "I do."

"How so?" Brianne asked, tilting her head to the side while Lizzy continued to glare at Katie.

"Dave's been a volunteer firefighter for a couple of years and his mom is an emergency room nurse." Lizzy said not taking her eyes off of the girl in front of her.

"Ah, ok… well let's get started then. Mark, come 'ere and help me hold Lizzy still. I'm not sure if this'll hurt her or not while Katie tries to heal her." Lizzy groaned at the thought, allowing her head to thud on the ground.

"Um, Liz? Was that you passing out?" Brianne asked, causing Katie and Dave to look over from their little powwow, worried.

"Nope, just not relishing the thought of more pain to get better. Wish I had passed out though." Came the response.

Dave explained how Lizzy had at least one rib broken and possibly a few fractures. He then explained how first the bones needed to be knit back together and then the swelling and bruising around the break needed to be addressed. Katie came back over, still worried and not sure of herself. Over Lizzy's prone form, Mark and Brianne were discussing first how best to hold Lizzy down, but then the conversation turned to football injuries they had seen, sustained or caused, treatment for said injuries and how many kids on their high school team were planning on trying to go professional. Mark soon had Brianne laughing over one story that apparently Bri didn't have her facts straight on. Lizzy thought that it would be hard to have all your facts straight about what had happened at the line of scrimmage when one was halfway down the field, out running the entire defense's backfield for a game winning touchdown. The injured girl mentioned this and the two above her laughed and agreed. Katie, who had been sitting quietly, mentally preparing herself, finally spoke up, issuing orders. Dave stood behind her, looking around the landscape, suspicious about something. Katie sent Solek back to the camp for something to pillow Lizzy's head, and sent Tanma to the Oasis to get some water forgetting for the moment that she could create the water for herself. She wasn't sure they would need it or not, but she had a hunch that she would need it for the actual healing. The water teen had the Stone and Earth teens focus on holding Lizzy's arms and legs if need be. When the two Matoren came back, Katie took a deep breath and held her hands about an inch above Lizzy's injury.

Brianne, Mark, Tanma, Solek and Dave watched as water flowed from the bucket to pool over Katie's hands. The water glowed softly. Lizzy gasped in pain and gritted her teeth as months of healing sped up to fit into a few minutes. Somehow, while she healed Lizzy, Katie could see the damage; almost like an infrared screen. She saw the broken bone show up as red, the fractures yellow and the bruising and swelling as green against the blue of the rest of Lizzy's body. Katie focused on healing the breaks and most of the fractures, and lessened the swelling. Lizzy let out a sigh of relief as the glow around Katie's fingers faded away. Katie sat back on her heels, exhausted but proud of herself.

"How come it's still purple and blue?" Brianne asked.

"Too tired." Katie said, yawning. Carefully Lizzy sat up, wincing slightly, but thankful that the pain was so much less.

"Thanks Katie." She said, hugging the blond. Katie mumbled something, then Lizzy felt her go limp. A soft snore emanated from Katie's head resting on Lizzy's shoulder; she had fallen asleep. Brianne laughed softly, then turned to the newest additions to their growing team. The boys were talking to and examining the two Matoren with interest. Solek was happy; explaining Bionicle to Mark, whose only knowledge had come from Brianne's re-telling of Lizzy's stories. Brianne waited for a lull in the conversation.

"Pardon the interruption but we should get back to our camp. Did you guys bring anything when you came through the portal?"

Mark nodded, while Dave answered her.

"Yeah, we dropped our stuff in the bushes on the other side of the Oasis, before all the… well before everything happened." Brianne nodded, then looked at Lizzy, who was trying to wake Katie enough to walk back to the camp and laydown and sleep there.

"I'm gonna get her back to the camp, Bri. You want to wait for them and show them where to go?" Lizzy asked.

"Sure, no problem." Brianne, grinning once more, let the boys lead the way to their stuff, while Lizzy helped the half asleep Katie back to the camp.

* * *

><p>Not long after, the whole group was back at the girl's camp, sitting around the blackened pit that had been their campfire the night before. Brianne was happily chatting, (more like monologing) with Mark while digging through her stuff getting ready for a bath later, while Dave was going through his bag, looking for something. Lizzy sat leaning up against her stuff, staring at the charred fuel.<p>

"Hey, Liz? What's wrong?" Brianne asked, noticing her friend's silence. Lizzy shook herself out of her reverie and looked up at Brianne.

"Hmm? What?"

"What is wrong?" Brianne repeated.

"Oh… just thinking. You realize that it was only early this morning that we fought off Makuta? Kind of a long busy day and it's only mid-afternoon. I'm kind if worried about what else we are going to run into. And I am especially worried about the others. We are still missing Fire and Air…" Lizzy trailed off, remembering something that Makuta had said that morning. She hung her head, her shoulders shaking slightly. When Brianne tried to pat her on the back, Lizzy shook her hand off and jumped to her feet, walking off a short ways away from the others, past Katie who woke up. The others watched the Light powered teen, who seemed to be thinking about a great deal more than just the missing Destiny Heroes. Lizzy stared at the Coliseum, which was barely visible in the distance. Tanma and Solek looked first at Lizzy, then at the others. Dave got up and walked over and stood just behind Lizzy.

"What is it, Elizabeth?"

Lizzy sighed, refusing to let him get her upset.

"It's something that Makuta said this morning. Something that set me off; got me so mad I might have hurt someone if it hadn't been directed at Makuta only." Behind her, Brianne and Katie got to their feet and came over, Mark only a step behind them.

"Somewhere in that City," Lizzy turned around to face the others, her tear-stained face grim. "Somewhere in there, is my little sister, Evangeline."

Dave, Katie and Mark were taken aback. They didn't know that Lizzy had a younger sister, and Brianne, though this didn't faze her, had only known as long as Lizzy had.

"You have a younger sister?" Katie asked, unbelieving. Lizzy nodded morosely.

"I had forgotten her, because we were separated when I was only three and she was almost one. My parents died only about 6 months after my encounter with Makuta, though my encounter wasn't as bad as yours was, Katie. Anyways, we both were sent to foster care but I ended up at an Orphanage. I didn't see Eva for a couple years until she came to the orphanage. Makuta said something about her during the fight last night."

"Wait a moment. You all had an encounter as a child with Makuta too?" Dave interrupted. Brianne, Katie, Lizzy and Mark all nodded. Brianne looked at Mark, curiosity coloring her smile. Mark shook his head meaning _I'll tell you later, let Dave finish._ Lizzy led them back to where Tanma and Solek were sitting, and they all sat back down.

"Why?" Tanma asked, having heard the conversation. "Why would Makuta care about organics?"

"Who knows why Tanma. But I think we all had similar encounters with Makuta as young kids." Lizzy said, shrugging at Tanma's questions. "I'm surprised though, Makuta didn't recognize us three last night, I don't think, and I'm curious to know why we all had Makuta show up in our childhood at all unless he knew about us being called to be the 'Destiny Heroes' as Solek says the Turaga call us."

"What happened to you girls?" said Dave, and Brianne launched into a recount of her experience, explaining that while she did have some fear of Makuta, the majority of her emotion, when it came to the Master of Shadows, was anger, because he had taunted her as a child and she still remembered the shrieking of the wind, carrying screams and tortured voices. Then Katie explained her encounter, and fear that she still felt and struggled with, the nightmares she still had; but she was happy to share what she remembered of Gali and how the blue Toa Nuva had treated her like a mother should. This comment from Katie had Brianne pipe up and talk about Pohatu, and how much like her father, he had been. Then they all looked at Lizzy expectantly. She shook her head, saying that she would talk later, but if they were going to swap stories, the group should at least pack up and head into the city and look for their missing members. The others agreed, but Brianne and Katie both demanded that the group wait a little bit while they went to the Oasis and cleaned themselves up.

"I need a proper bath, since my other one was interrupted and cold." Katie said, glowering mockingly in Dave's direction. Lizzy relented and let them go, going with them to wash her face and hands. She warned the other girls that it might be sometime before they found another source of water to bathe in. Katie shuddered at the thought, while Brianne only shrugged. Lizzy refilled her camel-back and her water bottles, told the girls to hurry up and headed back to the boys. She arrived to find Dave talking about the topography of the city with Tanma, while Mark stood next to them, a confused look on his face.

"What's up with Mark, Solek?" She asked.

"I'm not sure, Lizzy. I've tried to talk to him but it's like he can't understand me. Maybe something is wrong! Maybe I'm not speaking Matoren anymore! Maybe … um maybe… " Solek answered, waving his arms around wildly. Lizzy laughed at his antics, calmed the Av-Matoren down and then turned to Mark.

"What's up, Mark? Solek says that he thinks you are having a hard time understanding him."

Mark looked at Lizzy, a confused and worried look on his face. "Why are you all talking in a different language now?" He asked. "I tried to listen to Dave and the green one but I can't understand a word. Did I miss something? And how come you're necklace glowed when you were talking to the white one?" Lizzy had no problem understanding Mark, but she was curious as to why he thought she was speaking a different language. She fingered the thin chain of her Heartlight necklace, wondering what was going on.

"Hey Dave?"

The Ice powered boy looked up from the map he and Tanma were working on. "Yeah?"

"Did you have a problem talking with Mark on your way here?"

"Not really, no. Why do you ask?" Dave handed his pen to Tanma and stood up. The green Av-Matoran stared at the pen, fascinated.

"Well Solek says that he's been trying to talk to Mark, but Mark doesn't understand a word he's saying. And I just asked Mark why and he doesn't understand me." Lizzy explained.

"Well you all were talking in some weird language before Brianne, Katie and yourself went to the Oasis, Lizzy. Maybe it has something to do with that. I mean, you're speaking perfectly good Matoren now." Tanma said. Lizzy looked at him, thinking quickly.

"Lizzy? Why are you using your powers?" Asked Katie, as she walked back into the camp, Brianne trailing behind her. Brianne's hair was dripping, her beads glistening, the rest hanging out of its usual bandana, said bandana hanging loose from her hand, while Katie's was up in an elegant bun, her bangs tucked up in a few clips, but still hanging loose a bit. Lizzy quickly explained what was going on, and theorized that her Heartlight Necklace had something to do about it. Dave joined the conversation and the theories started to fly, especially when Katie noticed that their necklaces had stopped flashing dimly. Brianne then asked Dave what his necklace was, and he showed them. It was a rather large snowflake made of ice, perfectly round and perfectly symmetrical. The chain that it had hung on was extremely thin, contrasting with Lizzy's slightly thicker chain, Katie's braided ribbon, and Brianne's silver wire chains. Each necklace had etched into it the corresponding Nuva Symbol for their element. While they were discussing the validity of some of their theories, Tanma walked up to Mark, who was fiddling with something in his pocket.

"So you can't understand a word I'm saying, Toa of Earth?" The green Av-Matoren asked, expecting the boy to give him an odd look.

"No, I can understand you just fine, now. Have you been listening to the others? They have got some pretty crazy ideas." Mark replied, surprised that he could understand the figure in front of him. Katie heard him speaking, but she did not hear English.

"Hey Guys? Mark isn't speaking English!" She whispered.

"What?" Lizzy and the others whisper-shouted, shocked. They all turned to Mark and listened; Tanma, too, seemed to be speaking in a different tongue. But the longer they listened, the more and more Mark and Tanma made sense. They could understand them as if they were speaking English.

"I don't understand" Lizzy said, "How can we understand them now?"

Solek provided the answer. "Your necklaces are glowing again!" Lizzy looked at the others and saw that they were glowing faintly, as if they were using their powers. Dave spoke up with an explanation.

'Ah, I think I get it now! The necklaces-"

"Heartlight" corrected Brianne.

"Heartlight? Ok whatever… the _Heartlights _act as translators. The Atriz said that the Heartlights are the source of our power…" Lizzy winced at that, remembering what Takaena had told her. "So part of our power must be a translation power, we automatically know it, because the Atriz know it!"

"That makes sense!" Katie said enthusiastically.

_You're close to the truth Dave. _Lizzy thought, her shoulders sagging slightly as the weight of Takaena's words returned to her. Lizzy still had not decided how to tell the others, but knew that she would have to wait until the whole team was together. But for the moment, Lizzy had to deal with the matter at hand. The group still couldn't figure out a reason or a solution to Mark's communication problem. Eventually, Lizzy was able to convince them that they would be able to discuss the problem more, while they were walking.

"Come on guys, we need to get moving. It seems that we all came out in our respective districts, so we don't have to trek through Ko-Metru and Onu-Metru. If we head to the City Center and to the Coliseum, we should be able to find the last three members of our team there." Lizzy explained, hoisting her bag (her backpack was stored inside her other bag) and moving toward the rough track that headed straight for the City. The two boys grabbed their bags, which were much smaller in comparison to Katie's, and only slightly smaller that Brianne's or Lizzy's. Brianne hoisted her bag and joined Lizzy. Katie, though, struggled to drag her two bags. Brianne sighed and walked back over to Katie. Brianne grabbed the heavier of the two bags, while Katie, sheepishly, picked up the other, not meeting the others eyes. Lizzy and the boys stared as the two walked past, Brianne rolling her eyes to Lizzy, with Katie meekly following her. Lizzy shook her head in amusement and strode forward, taking the lead position. Behind her, the others resumed their conversation about Mark's dilemma. Every now and then, Tanma would chime in with a well thought theory, but after translating it for Mark and discussing it, they would all agree that it didn't quite fit. Sometimes Solek would give an idea or some input but for the most part he was content to watch and listen. In his mind, he had become the unofficial Chronicler for this adventure. Finally Katie thought of something. She stopped in the middle of the path and turned to Mark. Everyone, save Lizzy who had zoned out of the conversation, halted, wondering why Katie had stopped.

"Mark… where is your Heartlight?" She asked. Ahead, on the trail, Lizzy, who had been thinking about how she and the rest of the team looked like Power Rangers, what with the color choices of their clothing, froze, hearing Katie's question. (A/N: No, Seriously, I just realized this connection and I feel so stupid… the color coordinated clothing might not last much longer.) At that moment, everything clicked.  
>"What? My wha… oh." Mark went from confused to comprehension. Lizzy walked back to the group.<p>

"That's the problem," Katie exclaimed, "That's why he can't understand Matoren."

"But then how can he understand them sometimes?" Brianne asked. Dave shrugged, his eyes narrowing as he thought back to his short trip with the Earth boy, trekking across the Onu-Metru cityscape.

**_flashback***_

"_Look!" Mark said, pointing "The building look shorter over there. Didn't you say that the next … um what was it again… Metru? Yeah, the next Metru over is Po-Metru and that it's mostly desert? Dave? Hey Dave? Dude?"_

"_Huh? Oh…" Dave shook himself and slapped himself mentally. He had been staring at the odd black leather bracelet wrapped around Marks wrist._

_*** end flashback***_

"Mark, where is that bracelet you had? You were wearing it when we were fighting at the Oasis."

Mark dug into his pocket and pulled out the leather string. Hanging from it was a tiny glass vial that was full of what looked like dirt.

"It that ground pepper in there?" Katie asked, squinting at it. Brianne smacked the back of her head.

"It's dirt, Katie… you know, earth."

"Oh r-right, I knew that."

"He could understand them every now and then because he had his hands in his pockets, fingering the necklace." Dave explained.

"That is why you are having a hard time, Mark. You are not wearing your Heartlight." Lizzy murmured.

Mark looked at Lizzy questioningly. Lizzy pulled her yellow t-shirt's collar down slightly, revealing her Heartlight. Beside her, Brianne yanked her collar out of the way, showing her stone Heartlight.

"Mine give a whole new meaning to a 'stone-cold Heart', except mine is warm not cold." Brianne laughed. Dave unbuttoned the top button of his shirt so Mark could see the snowflake glittering with silver light. Katie unzipped the hoodie she was wearing to reveal her water drop shaped Heartlight.

"_Karda Ahvokii" - Heart Light_

Katie had said it in Matoran.

"You have to wear it, in order for it to work correctly." Lizzy said. Mark nodded and dropped his bag on the ground. He reached behind his head and tied the ends of the necklace together. There was a flash of white edged black light. A voice called out.

_Child of Earth, remember your strength; Your power, unruly, is a matter of faith.  
>Remember you past and all of the others'; Lest the light and the rest, flicker and fade.<em>

When the light died down, Mark stood, rubbing his neck where the leather strap had affixed itself. The glass vial had flattened into a square-ish piece of glass with the dirt at the center, in the shape of The Onu-Nuva's Element Symbol. Katie set her bag down, ran over and gave a surprised Mark a hug. Brianne clapped him on the back, the same as Dave. Lizzy stood in front of him, a serious look on her face. The others quieted and looked at her, worried. She grinned and held out her hand.

"Welcome, officially, to the team." She said, shaking his hand. The whole group laughed a little then gathered their dropped bags and set off, once more to the city.

* * *

><p>The group walked for about 4 hours and finally reached the outskirts of the City's Center. Along the way, they had talked a lot about the different stories that Lizzy knew and had listen to Tanma and Solek tell their tale about what had happened at Karda Nui, only, by the Matoren's count, three weeks previous. Lizzy then had a quiet discussion with Dave about what was probable happening to Mata Nui right then, and the two of them figured that the Mask of Life had yet to arrive at Bara Magna. Lizzy was quiet for the rest of the trip, worrying about what Mata Nui and Takaena Atriz had said when she had arrived in the Bionicle Universe. If the Toa Nuva were missing, then she and her friends had a limited amount of time before Makuta would gain an upper-hand on the Island of Mata Nui. The Matoren and the Turaga would be in danger and the Destiny Heroes would fail. Lizzy knew she would have to figure things out with the team, and reminded herself that she was not the Leader, no matter how much she wanted to be. Brianne over heard her talking to herself about this, and laughed saying that the only way Lizzy would not be the leader would be if the Fire-powered Destiny Hero was a bigger Bionicle Geek than she was. Lizzy smiled, while Katie and Solek laughed. During the trip, the group figured out that Mark wasn't much for talking, though he would and when he did, he usually had something profound or very wise to say. But they did get him to talk about some things, especially when they were comparing descriptions of their families.<p>

When the group finally reached the city, the suns were just reaching the horizon. Lizzy mentioned that they needed to check out the Coliseum but that it should wait until morning, as the place was notorious for causing problems for full Toa Teams. The other's agreed, though Brianne had to explain to Mark and Katie the reasoning behind it. Lizzy then said that they should find somewhere to set up camp for the night, and the group trekked slowly through the city looking for a good place. It was Katie who found a good place, walled in on three sides with rubble, an overhang that would serve as a shelter from rain, and enough clear space for a campfire with room to sleep around it. As the group began setting up the camp, the boys collecting things that Solek pointed out would burn and the girls getting blankets and sleeping bags out, Tanma grabbed Lizzy and the two went hunting. Lizzy was surprised that the green Av-Matoran was being so helpful; he had seemed kind of hostile to her and the girls before. When she returned to the camp with him, and the green Matoran set about preparing the food, she mentioned this to the others. The two boys looked at each other with knowing smirks and waved off Lizzy's concerns.

"It's probably nothing, Lizzy" Dave said, "He's probably just relieved that he doesn't have to hang out with only girls anymore." Mark nodded, while the three girls looked at each other in disbelief, then walked off. It made sense but it hurt their pride. Soon they were laughing about it until Katie soon felt a nearby water source and the three girls decided to check it out. It turned out to be a small fountain set into the side of a crumbling wall. Around it was a large mural with the written Matoran Language at the bottom. While the other two refilled the water bottles, Lizzy stared up that the mural, mentally translating the Mural. It was a depiction of the Toa Metru's defeat of the Morbuzaka. Though the colors were worn and part of it was missing, it still inspired a certain sense of awe in the teen. Here was a part of the Legacy of the Toa; a legacy that Lizzy felt she and her friends would be a part of, though they were not the normal type for Toa. _Then again, _Lizzy thought turning her gaze to the clear skies above,_ neither are the Glatorians_.

When the girls returned, and told the boys where to go refill their own water bottles, Lizzy made her way over to the two Matoren, watching them prepare the small rabbit-like Rahi for dinner. Lizzy was surprised to find out that there were some Rahi that were more organic than robotic and that these species were prolific around Metru Nui. (A/N: Yeah, I know that these Rahi don't exist, but how else are these guys going to eat? I had to tweak my version of the Bionicle Universe to accommodate Humans and their need to eat. Besides, it's not for much longer. Once the Destiny Heroes officially become the Toa Rahini, they won't need to eat the same way anymore.) Soon the meat was roasting over the fire and everyone was ready to eat.

By the time they had finished eating and cleaning up the conversation turned back to the past experiences. Everyone was interested in what had happened to Dave, Mark and Lizzy. Lizzy told her story very simply, mostly because there was not much to tell.

"I was about two when I had my encounter with Makuta. All I remember is that my parents, my baby sister and I had just gotten home from somewhere and I was getting out of the car and walking through the garage to the door, but the door slammed shut, and I heard this creepy voice calling me. I remember turning around and falling down, then seeing his creepy red eyes and getting scared. He was about to grab me when there was this flash of bright light behind me and Takanuva appeared. His light drove the Shadows away, and he gave me my necklace… not really as bad as either of the girls' or as bad as you guys' probably were. I just got really scared, especially when the light of the afternoon sun coming through the windows was blocked out. What about you, Dave? What happened to you?"

"I don't remember it too well but here's what I do remember…"

***Flashback***

_Three-year-old Dave looked up from the dining room table where he was working on a coloring book that his Mom had given him. He saw his older sister trudging through the snow outside, to the mailbox to get the day's mail. Deciding that he was getting cold just from watching her, Dave pushed his chair away from the table and dropped to the floor._

"_Where are you going, Dave?" His mom asked, walking into the room. She was four months pregnant with number four and five (twins), and it showed now._

"_I'm cold," said the toddler, "gonna go get another sweater." His mother nodded, and the boy ran off. He climbed up the stairs, and decided to make a detour to his older brother's room. The seven year old boy was working on his math, feverishly writing down simple equations. Dave snuck into his room and poked the boy, scampering out of the room at lightning speed._

"_DAVE!" Thundered his brother, "Quit poking me when you come up stairs!" _

"_Then don't leave your door open in the middle of a poke war!" Dave yelled back. His brother slammed the door shut and Dave heard something scrape across the floor; he assumed his brother had moved his dresser in front of the door. The younger boy cackled to himself, heading to his own room. On the way, he passed his six year old sister and the two engaged in a quick rapid fire round of poking. Finally Dave called for mercy and his sister walked away, smirking; she always won against Dave. Dave ran to his room and closed the door behind him, panting. Poke-fighting his sister took a lot out of him. The little boy ran to his dresser and pulled open the bottom drawer. He dug around looking for a shirt with longer sleeves. Finding none, he went to his closet and grabbed a shirt. When it didn't come down immediately, he yanked up and down on it. Finally it came free, and Dave pulled it over his head. Suddenly, the room went dark. Down the hall, Dave heard his brother yell, saying that the circuit must have tripped again. Dave felt his way to the closed door, but stopped when his hand met something slimy. He jerked backwards in surprise and looked up. Above him were two glowing red eyes. Dave scrambled to his feet and took a step back. Above his head came the sound of laughter, the kind of laughter Dave thought sounded like bad guys on TV, but much nastier and more fear inspiring. _

"_Hello little one… welcome to the Shadows"_

_Said a voice that made little Dave shiver with fear. The boy gasped when he felt a cold, slimy something grab his arm. He yelled in fear, trying to get his arm away. The voice continued to laugh at him, while Dave began to feel tears run down his face. He called to his brother for help, but received no answer._

"_He can't hear you…"_

_Said the voice, grabbing the front of the boy's shirt. Dave growled, thrashing around trying to get loose, then called for his brother again, calling him names, and trying to get his attention. Suddenly, from behind the boy came a blast of cold air._

"_Drop him." Said a voice that snapped like a fallen icicle. The voice above Dave growled, saying something that Dave didn't understand. There was no response, only the sound of the winter wind whistling. The temperature in the room dropped like a stone, and Dave felt the slimy hand freeze up, cracking when the whatever-it-was tried to move. The voice behind him, growled low, then something white and silver shot into Dave's line of sight. The darkness in front of him shifted as spider-webs of frost spread over it. Dave felt something grab him by the back of his shirt and yank him away from the frozen hand that had trapped him. The white being dropped the boy unceremoniously behind his towering form._

"_Watch and learn." The big being said, glancing over his shoulder at the boy staring up at him. With a swift movement, the white being swung a double bladed staff up and touched the point to the chest if the shadowy, slimy whatever. The thing froze solid, but not before hissing in some other language._

"_Save it, I've never like the sound of your grating voice." The White one said in English, bringing his staff down on the things head, shattering it in to millions of pieces. Amazed, Dave looked around his room, watching the tiny pieces go flying. He was surprised to find that his roomed looked like it had been outside for a couple of weeks in the middle of winter. Icicles hung in the corners and drifts of snow lay white and soft looking over his things. The white being that had saved him, gave the boy one last look, then tossed something to him. The boy caught it. It was a large snowflake, about an inch and a half across hung on a chain that was thinner that a piece of thread. The being turned back away from the boy and his form began to fade away. Dave jumped to his feet, calling to the being._

"_Hey, Mister! Wait!" The being paused a moment, half gone and turned his head back to the boy._

"_Thanks!" Said the boy, "What's your name?"_

_The being shifted slightly, then said "Kopaka." And faded quickly away._

_A moment later, Dave's brother burst through the door._

"_David! Why on earth is your window wide open? It's cold and snowing outside!" Dave only sighed, knowing his brother wasn't looking for an answer, only someone to yell at. The little boy was only surprised that the snow built up in his room had vanished, and the only remaining snow was the stuff by his open window._

_****End Flashback****_

Dave was quiet after finishing his story, the flames from the fire casting shifting shadows across his face. Lizzy stared at the fire, thinking. Finally Brianne broke the silence.

"So you weren't scared by Makuta, like Katie or Lizzy… that's different."

"I was more disgusted by him… he looked like some kind of swamp monster that had fallen into a giant blender with a zombie… sort of scary, but more vomit inducing." Dave said, sighing and running a hand over his face and through his hair. Katie looked scared again, so Brianne scooted over and slung an arm over her shoulder. The water teen smiled at the stone, cheering up quickly. It was hard to be scared around friends who look out for you.

"That's pretty unique… though Kopaka said more than I thought he would have. How many sibling do you have, Dave?" Tanma asked, curious

"Two older and three younger, the twins and another girl. Six total." Dave replied. Lizzy whistled in amazement, then turned to Mark.

"What about you, Mark? What happened to you?"

The teen shook his head, nervous. Brianne and Katie pressed him, wanting to know, but the more they asked, the more visibly upset Mark got. Lizzy finally stepped in.

"Hey! Chill girls! If he doesn't want to talk about it, there's no sense in forcing it out of him. He will tell us when he is ready." Mark looked at Lizzy, gratitude showing in his eyes. Lizzy nodded once in return.

In the silence that followed two things happened: Lizzy shivered, feeling the presence of Shadow close by, and the whole group heard the shouts of two voices. Lizzy jumped to her feet, turning from her place at the fire to stare out into the city. The Shadow felt close, but she knew that she could not trust the feeling. It could be closer or it could be farther, than she thought. The voices started yelling out again. Lizzy looked to her group, and they all ran out of their camp, towards the voices, which could be understood now.

"HURRY! It's getting closer!" One voice called.

"This has got to be a nightmare!" The other yelled, panting with exertion, "There is no way this is real. OH HOLY CRAP!"

"WATCH OUT!" The first voice cried followed by the rumble of falling debris.

Shouting, Lizzy skidded to a halt and threw her hand upwards, sending a ball of light up in the air. The area was flooded with light, as bright as day. Two figures running towards them, winced in the sudden light and barreled right in to the group. Mark and Brianne caught them. Katie ran up to the one that Mark had caught, trying to calm him down.

"You have to hurry, its coming! We don't have much time here!" The boy cried, struggling to get away. Katie drew on her mask, ordering the boy to calm down. While he did, Katie took note that the boy was dressed in green, a leaf-shaped Heartlight showing under his jacket. They had found their missing Air. Katie quickly explained what was going on, and though the boy had enough sense to stay with the group, he was still obviously scared.

Lizzy stared down the street. Coming from there were the sounds of multiple things heading their way, while her feeling of approaching Shadow got stronger and stronger.

"No more running, no more fear." Lizzy said, clenching her fists. She turned to Tanma and Solek, who stood right behind her.

"Tanma! Solek! You two need to go back to the camp. This will be a fight, I know it will, and I don't want you guys to get hurt. Build up the fire and move our gear to the back of the camp, against the wall. Stay there until we come back, alright?"

"But we know how to fight!" Solek protested. He wanted to stay so he knew what was going on in the fight. He wanted to be a Chronicler, even if he was afraid.

"With veteran Toa as your teammates. I know from the stories that fights with rookie Toa tend to get messy… a lot of excess elemental energy getting thrown around." Lizzy said, "Now go, we don't have much time."

Tanma yanked on Solek, and the two started to run off.

"Oh, Tanma? At dawn, I want you two to head back to your village. Get ready to evacuate the City. I think after this Metru Nui is going to get a lot more dangerous." Lizzy called after them. Tanma nodded and then the two Av-Matoren ran off, Tanma lighting their way.

Lizzy turned back to the group. The other boy was still fighting Brianne, and now both she and Mark were struggling to keep the boy from hurting himself or the others. Brianne was wincing in pain.

"This kid is burning up… I think he's Fire." Brianne said to Lizzy. Lizzy narrowed her eyes and walked up to the boy. He was dressed in dark jeans, a white t-shirt and a red button-up shirt. Around his neck was a glowing stone-like necklace, a coal, which flickered with an inner fire. The boy was thrashing around, yelling about being stuck in a hallucination.

Lizzy, fed up with his yells, smacked him across the face. The boy froze, not expecting the blow.

"That is enough! Quit acting like a brat. There is a fight coming and you are going to be a part of it. You're here because you got a tablet and walked through the vortex! You answered Destiny's call! You met the Toa Atriz! This is no dream, this is reality! You are the Fire Hero! Fire Heroes are the leaders, but until you get you head in the game, I will lead this fight! Now quit your bitching and get ready to fight!" Lizzy raged at the boy, shoving him backwards. He stumbled back until he was next to Katie, who had a determined look on her face. Lizzy strode forward and stood at the front of the group.

She glanced back at the nearly fully assembled team, then back at the entrance to the street. The sounds of the approaching enemy were getting closer. Lizzy reached over her shoulder and drew her sword, which blazed with light and energy. Taking their cue, the others drew their weapons. Dave drew his double Tomahawks and fit them together, the handles elongating to form a double ended staff. Mark swung his ax, assuring himself that he had enough room to fight while Brianne coiled the chain to her Kamas loosely around her wrists. Katie took a deep breath and reached back for her weapons. She drew out two small knife looking things. She turned them over in her hands; they looked like polished wood but felt like metal. Noticing a button on the side, she pressed it and the knife sprang open, it's catch released, to reveal…

"A fan… a fan-"*presses the button again* *_Swish* _"Oh cool… a fan with blades along the top." Katie whispered, awed. She pressed the button on the other fan and out came its hidden blades. The weapons fit her hand perfectly and she instinctively knew how to hold them and how to fight. Next to her, the Fire teen looked over at the Air teen, who stood on Katie's other side. The Air teen shrugged and pulled out his own weapon. It looked like a smaller version of Kongu Inika's Energy Crossbow, only the edges were sharper and it could be wielded like a sword. The fire boy, still freaked out, reached behind him and pulled out two swords, exact replicas of Tahu Mata's Fire Swords, albeit a little shorter. The swords blazed with leaping flames, and the Fire Boy smiled. He could do this, dream or not.

At the front of the group, Lizzy scanned the end of the street, looking for some sort of movement. Behind her, she could hear the others' heavy breathing and their shifting stances as they waited. Suddenly there was movement.

Lizzy gulped a breath…

…

…

…

Makuta had brought friends…

…

…

…

Rahkshi

…

…

…

…

"Oh Crap."

**Please Review! I need the encouragement! Or if you are hopelessly confused, please ask questions!  
><strong>

**Edit 3/5: okay so I realize I screwed up when I first posted this, Sorry. And one other thing I think I should mention: yes all the Toa Rahini know each other, with the exception of Lizzy knowing Mark. Brianne brought Mark up to speed.  
><strong>


	8. The First Battle

**A/N: I'm so sorry guys! I didn't mean to take this long to get the new chapter ready. I had a pretty awful case of writers block for about a week, and for the life of me could not figure out how to write the middle part of the Chapter. Then I got an awful sinus infection and my allergies are driving me nuts. As it is, the chapter is substantially shorter than the last, mostly because I have a lot to cover in the next chapter.**

**Thank you so much to Shatter Dave and LokaCola for their reviews and the continued use of their OCs, Dave and Mark,**

**Thanks to Andonexus Knight of the Damned for Reviewing.**

**And a big thanks to biolaj1998 for reviewing, twice, and for adding this to their Alert List. Welcome to the club.**

**As always, I don't own anything except for my characters and the Plot. Dave Shatterfate belongs to Shatter Dave, and Mark Johnson belongs to LokaCola.**

**Please Guys, Review and if you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know! I would love to hear from you!**

**That's done… Now on with the Chapter**

_***Previously***_

_Lizzy reached over her shoulder and drew her sword, which blazed with light and energy. Taking their cue, the others drew their weapons. Dave drew his double Tomahawks and fit them together, the handles elongating to form a double ended staff. Mark swung his ax, assuring himself that he had enough room to fight while Brianne coiled the chain to her Kamas loosely around her wrists. Katie took a deep breath and reached back for her weapons. She drew out two small knife looking things. She turned them over in her hands; they looked like polished wood but felt like metal. Noticing a button on the side, she pressed it and the knife sprang open, it's catch released, to reveal…_

"_A fan… a fan-"*presses the button again* *Swish* "Oh cool… a fan with blades along the top." Katie whispered, awed. She pressed the button on the other fan and out came its hidden blades. The weapons fit her hand perfectly and she instinctively knew how to hold them and how to fight. Next to her, the Fire teen looked over at the Air teen, who stood on Katie's other side. The Air teen shrugged and pulled out his own weapon. It looked like a smaller version of Kongu Inika's Energy Crossbow, only the edges were sharper and it could be wielded like a sword. The fire boy, still freaked out, reached behind him and pulled out two swords, exact replicas of Tahu Mata's Fire Swords, albeit a little shorter. The swords blazed with leaping flames, and the Fire Boy smiled. He could do this, dream or not._

_At the front of the group, Lizzy scanned the end of the street, looking for some sort of movement. Behind her, she could hear the others' heavy breathing and their shifting stances as they waited. Suddenly there was movement. _

_Lizzy gulped a breath…_

…

_Makuta had brought friends…_

…

_Rahkshi_

…

"_Oh Crap."_

***Welcome to the First Fight***

Rahkshi.

The sons of Makuta.

Nasty things inhabited by eel-like parasites called Kraata. Lizzy knew what the toys looked like and what the comics depicted them to look like, but nothing prepared her for what they actually looked like; something that still bothered Bionicle fans on Earth. Rahkshi looked exactly like the ones in _Mask of Light_, the first Bionicle Movie, only in real life, these things were slime ridden, rusted in patches and shrieking like the nine Nazgul.

"Lizzy? What are those things?" Brianne asked, her voice devoid of emotion. Lizzy didn't answer, she couldn't. She was frozen in place, staring at the enemies gathered before them.

"Lizzy? Lizzy! _Elizabeth!_" Dave shouted at her. Lizzy jerked at the sound of her full name, turning to see the others behind her. In her eyes was a certain hopelessness; in short, she was scared. "What are those?" Dave repeated, pointing at their smaller foes. Lizzy turned back to see their enemies slowly advancing on them.

"Rahkshi" She whispered, just loud enough that the others could hear it. Behind her, Brianne, Dave and the Air powered teen gasped. "We are royally screwed." Suddenly, Brianne slapped the back of Lizzy's head, the chain around her wrist jangling against itself, by far the loudest sound in the nightscape. Lizzy spun around to stare at her best friend, mouth agape at Brianne's audacity, her free hand rubbing the back of her head. She took a breath to complain.

"Get your head in the game!" Brianne growled, forestalling Lizzy's reaction, "We can't afford to lose this. We still have to find your sister. We still have to get the Av-Matoren out of here. We still have to find and save the Toa Nuva. You just said 'no more fear.' There is no turning back from this. You are our leader… So LEAD!" When Brianne mentioned Lizzy's sister, the Light powered teen's eyes hardened. Across her face flashed the Ahvokii, momentarily blinding the others.

"Good answer." Dave muttered. Lizzy smirked at him, then turned back to the enemy. Arrayed in front of the seven teens were five Rahkshi (Red, Blue, Green, White and Brown). Makuta, who towered over them, stood about a hundred feet behind, his twisted mask twisted even more in a cruel smirk. The behemoth raised a hand and beckoned to Lizzy and her team. Lizzy growled low, the sound rumbling in her chest, sounding more like a Hordika than a Toa. Behind her, Katie whimpered.

"No fear," Lizzy whispered, glancing over her shoulder, "Unity, Duty, Destiny. We fight as a team." It sounded like she was trying to convince herself, but after she said this, the entire group felt a surge of strength. Katie felt her confidence grow and her fear fade, Brianne felt her strength grow, the air around her face flickering orange, Dave felt his senses sharpen as the scene before him came into ice sharp focus , Mark, who was struggling with worse fear than Katie, felt his fear lessen and a sense of purpose grow. The Air powered teen felt a sense of kinship grow, while the Fire boy felt a sense of calm.

"Before we get into this," the Air boy whispered, "My name is Alex and the brooding kid over there is James."

"Me 'n Alex will take the Brown." James said.

The rest of the group recognized his outburst by nodding their heads, never taking their eyes off their foes.

"Dave, I'm on blue."

"Brianne. I've got red."

"Mark, I'll take green."

"K-Katie, yellow"

"Lizzy. I'll tackle big ugly. Now let's kick some Rahkshi butt. Just be careful. The red, Tahurak, his staff creates Fear, the blue, Guurahk is Disintegration, the green, Lerahk, is poison, brown, Panrahk, is Shattering, and the white, Kurahk, is Anger."

And with that, the seven of them raced into battle.

Brianne charged forward, aligning herself to face the red Rahkshi. She felt, as the one with the least fear, that she should be the one to face the one that created fear. She ran, as if to face the thing head on, but at the last moment, as the Rahkshi swung its staff, she slid under the staff, hooked a Kama around its leg and slipped behind it, the chain of her weapon unfurling behind her. Brianne slid across the ground, then flipped over, landing on her knees, the chain reaching backwards over her shoulder. She yanked and Tahurak tripped over, shrieking. Brianne stood, turning back around. She drew her hand upwards, while a large rock erupted from the ground at the same time. Holding the rock at about waist height, Brianne wound up and let fly a mighty kick. Her converse-covered foot connected with the rock and sent it hurtling at the Rahkshi. The Red monster staggered to its knees, hissing, when the rock collided with the side of its "face". The Rahkshi was thrown back a few feet, as Brianne recalled the rock, setting her foot on it as if it were a soccer ball.

At the same time, Katie was running toward the White Rahkshi, calling on her powers, feeling them build with in her. From her fans, which she held behind her as she ran, water streamed out, colaceing behind her until she was being followed by a huge sphere of water. Katie focused on Kurahk, focusing on attacking it before it had a chance to use its staff on her. The liquid behind her burst into motion, releasing a tidal wave. Katie jumped up, and rode the wave, steering it until it wrapped around the White Rahkshi. It thrashed, trying to free itself. Katie refused to let it free and maneuvered the water into a whirling tornado of Rahkshi and water. After a moment, a White blur was flung out of the vortex and into the side of a building. Katie chased after it, water glowing with elemental power.

Behind her, Dave stood in front of the Blue Rahkshi, trying to gauge its next move. The Kraata inside its head shrieked at him, the front piece of the armor opening slightly as it did so. Dave dove to the side, narrowly avoiding being struck by the staff. With a swirl of wintery wind, Dave launched a spear of ice at his foe, then dove to the side and slid along a patch of ice both to avoid the Rahkshi and to get behind it. Coming up beside it, Dave lashed out with his foot, aiming to trip the Rahkshi, but his foot met with unyielding metal and bounced off. He swore, retreating from his adversary, trying to assess the damage to his leg. He was sure that, while not broken, his ankle had borne the brunt of the attack. He gingerly tested standing on it, wincing as the pain flared momentarily; he felt relieved when his leg held his weight, the pain fading slightly to a dull ache. Dave looked up, barely in time to jump back again, avoiding a savage slash from his foe. The Rahkshi screamed at him as Dave slid away, out of reach, his quick mind racing trying to figure what to do next. It followed, swinging its staff, just barely missing the boy, who bent back to avoid the blow. With a smashing ring that echoed all around, the Rahkshi's blow skittered off of Mark's ax, as he deflected the strike.

"Thanks Mark." Dave called, as he jumped back deflecting the attack from Mark's opponent.

Mark acknowledged him as the two traded places again, Dave herding the blue Rahkshi backwards. Mark returned his gaze to his enemy, concentrating on his own fight. In a rush of movement, the green Rahkshi bore down on him, its staff a blur as it stabbed at Mark's stomach. Moving his heavy weapon faster than one would expect him to, Mark swung his Ax around, blocking the stab and following through the motion and using the momentum of the strike to slam into the underside of the Rahkshi's rotting upper body. The Rakshi stumbled back, flailing its arms. Mark hissed in pain as the wildly waving staff caught his left arm, tracing a short but deep cut. The wound burned like fire. Falling back, Mark dropped his weapon and fell to a knee, clutching at the gash. The Rahkshi recovered its balance, and charged toward the boy again. Thinking quickly, Mark grabbed his ax with his uninjured hand and chucked it at his approaching foe. The heavy weapon struck it, tangling its legs and causing it to fall in a heap, hissing angrily and buying Mark a couple of moments to deal with his injury. Ignoring the hissing Rahkshi, Mark tore a piece of cloth off his shirt, and began tying the strip, clumsily, around his arm. A pair of faintly glowing hands entered his field of vision. Looking up, Mark cried out in shock. Kneeling in front of him was an insubstantial image of Lizzy. The figure smiled faintly, quickly tying off the rough bandage. It patted his arm, though he felt nothing then jerked its head towards where Lizzy was fighting furiously against the giant sized Makuta, then towards Mark's opponent, which suddenly found itself busy fighting a figure made of stone. Brianne called out from across the field, asking if Mark was okay. He called back that he was fine, then cried out a warning. Brianne's attacker had taken advantage of her momentary distraction to the welfare of her teammate and kicked her in the chest. She fell to the ground, winded; the stone figure defending the distracted Mark, wavered, its expressive face grimacing and then crumbled apart. The glowing image of Lizzy darted forward and took up the fight with against the Green Rahkshi, flashing around its face, distracting it. The Rahkshi swatted at the image, screeching every time the ghost Lizzy's sword seemed to hit it. Barely noticing this, Mark felt his new Heartlight flare as he reacted to Brianne's injury, the greyish light illuminating his surroundings faintly. A black blur flashed forward from Mark and dove in between Brianne's panting form and the descending staff of the red Rahkshi she faced. The black blur caught the blow, deflecting it away from the girl, who struggled to her feet. The blur resolved into an image of Mark made of earth, a fierce scowl on its face. The image disengaged and drove the red Rahkshi backwards, giving Brianne enough time to recover and make it to her feet. She nodded once to the image, which smiled grimly and vanished. Mark did not see this since he was busy reengaging in his fight against the green Rahkshi. But when the image of himself vanished, Mark felt satisfied that Brianne had recovered and was back in the fight, though he did not see it. Also, as soon as he returned to his fight, the image of Lizzy flashed him a quick salute, which he returned, then vanished itself.

Removed from the Rahkshi fights, Lizzy sighed as she felt something return to her, and she felt assured that Mark and Brianne were both alright. She refocused on her fight, just in time to throw up a shield to keep herself from being crushed by the giant's enormous staff. Lizzy was fighting shadows, both with her sword and with her mind. At the beginning of her fight, Lizzy had stared into Makuta's glowing red eyes, calling on her power to bring forth her Ahvokii mask to glow bright. The ensuing fight took place in Lizzy's mind, as she fought off the tendrils of Shadow that threatened to invade her mind, aiming to devour her inner Light and take control over her being. She struggled to repel the attacks, using every defense she could think of or remember reading in various books. One trick that seemed to work well, one that she had jokingly used over the years, was direct from _The Inheritance_ books. Lizzy focused on the image of a glowing gold wall around her mind, condensing her thoughts into a small sphere, singing softly to herself. Fighting against the darkness that pressed against her, sometimes she had to strike at his mind; it was like looking into Fear itself. Currently, though, Lizzy was having a difficult time defending her mind and fighting in the real world at the same time. She relied on her smaller size and maneuverability against Makuta's strength, dodging around his strikes and throwing light bolts up at him. These did little more than infuriate him, but they did keep his attention on her rather than allowing him to see the other fights going on below and taking action against the other teens below. Several times, though, Lizzy either slipped and fell avoiding a swing or blow, or was hit by the giant's sword and was thrown, tumbling to a stop. Each time she would shake herself off and jump right back in. In the back of her mind, she realized that she had bruises and cuts everywhere and that her side was still pained. But she forced herself to ignore the pain and keep her fight going.

Finally, she darted up the side of a building, her eyes picking out the quickest route up, using ledges, cracks in the foundation, and holes in the side of the building. She grabbed a bar and swung up, the strength of a Toa infusing her. As she neared the top, she slipped slightly, arms flailing a moment, when the ledge she jumped to wobbled dangerously. A shower of pebbles and other debris fell to the ground, raining down on Kurahk, interrupting its fight with Katie. The Rahkshi glanced up, to see a huge piece of masonry falling towards it. It shrieked, trying to get out of the way, but Katie, shouting incoherently, gripped by the power of its staff, trapped it using bands of water to hold it down. The masonry fell on it, crushing it with sickening crunch, then silence as a viscous green liquid seeped out from under the rock. Up above, Lizzy, who had jumped clear and was on another, much more sturdy ledge, shuddered at the sound, while Katie flinched, scrambling backward and was violently sick. Casting a worried glance at Katie, Lizzy turned back to Makuta, who stood shuddering. He bellowed and swung at Lizzy again, his wild swing connecting with the side of a building, causing more masonry and chunks of building material to rain down on the combatants. Lizzy stood frozen, watching as a piece fell right for her, when from out of nowhere a blur of silver slammed into her side, the momentum carrying Lizzy and the other person clear. Lizzy shook herself, mentally scolding herself for freezing up, then nodded to Dave in thanks for the quick save. A questioning glance made the Ice powered teen jerk a thumb over his shoulder displaying a staff-less blue Rahkshi frozen solid in a column of ice. Nodding again, Lizzy darted forward and dragged Katie out of immediate danger. The three hunkered down under an outcropping of stone, as the rain of debris continued. They could hear the muffled bellows of Makuta, as the stuff smashed into him; his shadow built body could not take the damage, and shattered into wisps of smoke. The dust settled and the smoke dispersed, revealing Brianne and Mark still fighting the red and green Rahkshi. Lizzy led her group forward to help them out.

Just as they reached them, over everyone's head was thrown the Brown Rahkshi, hurtling down to earth, with an almighty, ground shaking crash. Following its trajectory were Alex and James; Alex supported by wind, with James hanging onto his leg. Alex's control over the wind was imperfect though and the two boys tumbled to the ground, instead of landing gently like the Air Teen planned. The brown Rahkshi hissed and screeched at the two trying to get around them. Rolling to his knees, James raised his fire-swords, firing off fireballs in quick succession while Alex recovered from the landing. The Air powered boy shook himself muttering about screwy air currents and up-drafts, then looked toward the Rahkshi. Jim called to him and Alex turned his head ever so slightly, allowing the Fire boy to slide into his peripheral vision. Jim mimed firing a gun, then ran behind Alex, who raised his crossbow-sword to his shoulder, lined up the sights and blasted away at the rotting brown figure in front of him. It shrieked as the concentrated Elemental energy slammed into its chest; its voice piercing a decibel high enough to shatter glass. Above the battle field, the chutes of Metru Nui shattered, raining glass and watery protodermis down on the teens. Jim's fires sizzled and sputtered while above them, but still underneath the chutes, Lizzy's light flickered, fading away. Darkness seeped back, shadows lengthening as night reclaimed the battlefield. From behind the brown Rahkshi, there flared a red flickering light, as James called his fires back. With a yell, he jumped at the Rahkshi, and, just as it turned, drove his twin Fire-Swords into its casing and through the Kraata, which shrieked, burning from the inside out. The stench of cooked Kraata was overwhelming; Alex choked on the fumes, scrambling backwards to Lizzy, Dave and Katie. Lizzy, her eyes never leaving Brianne and Mark's fight, Leaned down and helped the shorter, green wearing teen to his feet. The cries of the Brown Rahkshi's Kraata as it burned caused the Red and the Green to react, giving Brianne and Mark the chance to dispatch them. The darkness of the Metru Nui Streets was filled with orange and grey light as the two remaining combatants focused their powers. With a shout, Brianne yanked on the chain of her weapon, throwing the Rahkshi overhead and sending it crashing into the green one. The two Rahkshi struggled to untangle themselves. Brianne and Mark closed their eyes, concentrating; the ground rumbled with the strength of an earthquake. Lizzy and the others staggered, Katie falling to her knees, as the ground buckled and heaved under them. With a groaning, crashing sound, the ground around the Rahkshi tore open and the two were swallowed, each only able to scream once, before they were buried in rocks and dirt.

When the sounds of the dying creatures faded away, Lizzy and the others made their way over. They each looked around, breathing heavily. For a moment, all was silent. Overhead, a hawk-like Rahi flew unperturbed, its flight uninterrupted by the smoke and billowing clouds of dust from the battle field below.

"We won…" Katie whispered, the realization setting in. Brianne barked out a laugh, rubbing her arm, trying to alleviate pain.

"That was… different." She said, "Never thought I could fight like that."

"I didn't even know I could fight at all." Mark said hoarsely. Lizzy grinned, even though she was both mentally and physically drained, even more so than the others.

"Let's head back to the camp… I don't want Tanma and Solek to get jumped." She said, still panting. The whole group, though tired, turned and ran back down the street that, so recently, they had charged down. Their spirits were light; they had won their first true battle.

But sadly such victory can never last; such is the way of the Rules of the Bionicle Universe.

There was a silent explosion from behind them that sent out shock-waves of sound and energy, knocking all the teens off their feet. They rolled to a stop, groaning as they landed on bruises or cuts, creating new ones on top of the old. They staggered to their feet, clutching aching arms, sides or backs, (in Katie's case, her head, where a cut sent rivulets of blood trickling down the side of her face). Behind them, stood a slightly more solid appearing figure of Makuta Teridax.

Barely suppressing a groan of frustration, Lizzy hoisted her sword once more. She launched a barrage of light bolts at the figure, charging after them trying to catch Makuta off guard. She swung her sword at Makuta's head, her arm muscles burning from exhaustion. Makuta's weapon, his staff, met hers with a ringing crash. Lizzy disengaged then sidestepped a stab. As she moved, she blinked, trying to rid her eyes of sweat and blood. Her vision obscured, she did not see the next blow. Makuta punched the young girl in the stomach, sending her skidding back past her teammates with a cry of pain. She struggled to her hands and knees, coughing, while the others charged forward to attack. Lizzy tried to warn them, to call them back, but the pain from the blow and her coughing fit prevented it. She could only watch the others as they fought. While they fought a losing fight.

Brianne and Mark charged forward, under a blanket of shots from Alex. The two split up just before they reached Makuta and headed for opposite sides. Katie called on her flagging strength and pulled as much water from her surroundings as she could. She then slipped around Makuta and came up from behind, a wall of water looming overhead. Dave and Jim came from the front, with Alex right behind them. They converged on Makuta, elemental energies spilling out and whirling into a frenzy.

Before they could make their full attack though, the Master of Shadows exploded with force, the ground around him welling up with snake-like tendrils that grabbed and threw each teen back to where Lizzy was struggling to her feet. The others tumbled to a halt. Brianne cried out as she landed, back first, against the corner of a stone slab. She slid to the floor, barely hanging on to consciousness. Dave and Mark landed in a heap, while Alex landed on a pile of rocks, the fall knocking him out. Jim hit the ground and rolled to a halt next to Lizzy.

Lizzy picked herself up off the floor with a groan. She knew that she and her team were in trouble; that there was a strong possibility that they would lose everything right there.

_How are we going to get out of this? Dawn is coming, everyone is tired and injured. They have to get to the village and get ready to go… and we still have to find Evangeline._

Lizzy finally made it to her feet, swaying slightly. Battle fever had run its course, and her adrenaline powered burst of energy was gone; she was exhausted. Suddenly in her mind, she saw a flash of light, and Takaena Rahini step forward.

_Arm yourself, young light, and you will defeat your foe. You have much to do and you cannot lose here.  
><em>Her voice echoed through Lizzy's head.

Lizzy felt a growing power with in herself, and her Heartlight began to glow brighter than ever before. The light enveloped her, flared, then died away revealing Lizzy standing straight and tall, wearing armor similar to what Takaena wore, only Lizzy's protected more of her body. The armor was gold with a chest plate, and greaves and bracers. Underneath it was a full body jump-suit, made a material like to Kevlar but more durable. Her shoes also had changed. They now had armor, shaped like Bionicle feet (think Toa Mata) and were connected to her flexible greaves. Any injuries she had were healed, including the bruising from her broken ribs. Over her face was her Ahvokii mask, slid and glinting in Lizzy's light. Behind her, the other teens (those who were conscious at least) gasped in surprise.

Lizzy stared Makuta down, then took a single step forward. The Master of Shadows took an involuntary step back, fear and pain written across his face as Lizzy, especially her armor, began to glow brighter and brighter, the light focusing on Makuta like a spotlight. Lizzy launched a barrage of light at him, thinking to force him back again. With a sinister laugh, he vanished from where he was standing as the light barrage crashed downward, reappeared in front of Lizzy. The teen froze, locked in the grip of tendrils of shadow. Her armor vanished, leaving her defenseless as Makuta leaned close to her mask and whispered something; Lizzy's eyes widened in shock and she struggled visible against her bonds. Behind her, Mark had silent tears running down his grime streaked face as he remembered how strong the grip of those tendrils is. Makuta stepped back, cackling at Lizzy's shock then vanished, morphing into cloud of Darkness that sped down the streets and out of sight. A moment later, the bindings that held Lizzy sizzled and snapped as her light ate away at them.

Lizzy stared after Makuta's retreating form, her thoughts racing. The Master of Shadow was after her sister; she had to find her first. The light powered teen glanced back at the rest of her team. Katie was awake, trying to wake Alex up; Dave sat nearby, flexing his left wrist, the one that he had landed on (thankfully it had not broken, only sprained). Brianne was slowly coming back to consciousness, sitting up and shaking her head slowly to clear the shadow induced fog. Jim was staggering to his feet watching the Light teen. Lizzy looked at the Ice boy, her face clearly showing her panic.

"Go" Dave said, guessing what Makuta had said, "We will meet you at the coast. And we will fill in the others. Go find her and bring her back." Lizzy nodded, then looked at Brianne, who nodded once.

"I'll be back soon." Lizzy whispered, then she turned and started running down the street. Halfway down, she glowed a brilliant gold and her armor appeared on her body. With a burst of energy, Lizzy poured on the speed, focusing on following the retreating cloud.

**A/N: Ok... like I said, shorter than last time... but in the next chapter, you will finally meet Evangeline, Lizzy's sister. Check out my profile for the new Fire and Air character descriptions. **

**And, as always, PLEASE REVIEW! It makes my day seem so much better.  
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	9. My Sister! My Family!

**A/N: Alright people! I'm SO HAPPY! The Space Shuttle Discovery just flew into Washington DC and is now at the Udvar Hazy National Air and Space Museum! It was so cool to see it fly over the Nation's Capital on TV. (To those of you from other countries who are reading this, I am sorry. The American Space Program is a big deal around here, especially at my house.) While it is sad to see the end of an era, perhaps soon Americans will once again go into space in new and improved space vehicles and continue space exploration for the betterment of mankind…**

… **But only if the government gets it…. I digress and I will not finish that thought, sorry…**

**Anyways, the chapter… yeah… so in summary, in this chapter you will meet the final member of the Toa Rahini. And finally I can get a move on with the plot. There are also some flashbacks to set up the Toren/Nuvren Sisters' backstory. Please let me know if you get confused or if you have questions! I want feedback people! Critique if you must, but be nice about it.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Bionicle, I wouldn't be here, now would I?**

**Oh and one more thing: Please be careful while reading. The Point of View (POV) changes a couple of times.**

**Chapter Nine  
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**My Sister! My Family!  
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**The Journey Finally Begins  
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><p>(First Person POV)<p>

Three days… it has been three days since I had found myself here, in this place. Three days since I had found that vortex and found myself leaving home. Three days since I had met Xiaxtl, the purple and grey robot-person and found that I now have control over shadows and darkness. It has been three days since I started hearing whispering voices at night. I'm beginning to think that I'm crazy, but every time the suns come up, the voices go away.

It had been two days, or rather two nights since I fought that… thing. Two nights since I had blown it sky-high. I keep trying to remember what it was; it reminds me of something from a story I heard long ago. Thinking of these stories reminds me of the girl who had helped me out of my shell, before I ran away. Those days had been dark ones. Ever since I was four, I remember living in a constant state of fear, always afraid of the dark, wondering if I would see things and hear that awful voice echoing through my mind. But is has also been two days since I felt that a spark in the back of my mind; a spark of recognition. I don't know where it came from or what caused it, but it feels familiar.

It has been only two hours, give or take, since I heard the sounds of a battle outside the walls of this place. Over the walls I kept seeing flashes of light and once, a spire of glittering ice shoot up. I heard the sound of rushing water, hurricane-force winds and blazing fire and I felt the ground shake beneath my feet, while stones and chips of rock rolled around, seemingly of their own accord. I just came back up to the surface after scouting out the caverns beneath the Stadium-like structure that I had found myself in when everything started. I watched as the ruined buildings outside the walls reflected the flashes and echoed the sounds of falling rubble. Cries, shrieks and other noises wafted over the walls for some time, until, with the ground shaking violently one more time, everything abruptly ended. It was when everything ceased that I again heard the whispering shadows around me continue to whisper, telling me to give over to the Darkness, giving me false promises of power and strength. But underneath it all, I can still hear that voice that has haunted me ever since that day, so long ago in my life. That day was still one that I cannot forget, but still can't bear to remember. It is that voice that reminds me never to give in to the whispers.

I shook myself, shaking my head and trying to get the dark thoughts out of her head, brushing aside the voices. Then I realized that there is another feeling at the bottom of my heart; a tugging sensation that seems to be trying to lead me somewhere. I had felt it once before, when I first stepped out of the vortex and I had fought it off, wishing to explore my surroundings before I acted on some freaky feeling. What I found beneath the Stadium was a huge cavern with empty shelves as far as I could see. It was in this place that I fought that screeching slimy thing. After that I had fled through a doorway that led me to some sort of kennel or holding pen, the occupants of which had long since fled. Another cavern I found was full of machinery, huge gears, chains, weights and engines, the purpose of which I had and still have no idea. Above everything, in the tall spire that I had climbed with the aid of an elevator-like thing, I found a balcony and another chamber. I looked over the edge of the balcony, and marveled at the view. Then I turned and headed to the room, but when I peeked in, I threw myself backwards almost immediately; the room was drenched in evil, the stench of it over-powering and frightening. Something malevolent had been in residence there for some time. The residual evil in the room was sickening. I quickly made my way back down, casting fearful glances over my shoulder; I was convinced that something was following me. When I reached the main floor, I found an alcove and curled up, sleeping for a few hours. But now, ever since the fight, the tugging feeling was stronger; when I woke up, I finally gave in and decided that it was time to figure out where this feeling is leading me.

Carefully, I made my way over to the huge archway that stood over the partially open doors and slipped around the side of one of the columns that stuck up randomly out of the center of the floor of the stadium. I quickly realized that if I stuck to the darker Shadows, I could use them to render myself invisible to unfriendly eyes. Very quickly I made my way over to the shadows under the archway and peered around the broken doors. Outside, I saw nothing. No movement or anything; no animals or people, only shadows and shifting winds that moaned through openings. Stealthily I crept out of the night-shadow of the doorway, and carefully made my way down the street, ears straining for any sound. I realized that I was on edge and that I had been on edge for two days, since I had fought that shrieking thing. I was so tense that I jumped and ran into the shadows at the slightest movement of shadow or moan of the wind.

Slowly, I picked my way through the streets, hiding in the shadows of buildings, looking for the source of the battle I heard earlier. Overhead, I could see the sky lightening as dawn approached. Soon I found an open space between buildings, like a plaza or park of some sort. Around me, I could see patches of Ice, piles of rubble, and other signs of a fight. I flinched and backed away when I saw something suspiciously familiar lying on the ground in the shadows. It was similar to what I had fought, but this one was Brown rather than Black, and the side of it was burned; there were two large holes in the side, as if it had been stabbed. I continued to look around, trying to figure out the outcome of the battle when I heard the echoes of footsteps behind me. I froze, then, casting a fearful look at the fallen thing behind me, I darted to the side and down a dark alley-way. Around myself I gathered the Shadows like a cloak, shielding me from view; a hood resting gently on my head and obscuring my face. As always, as I use my power, the whispering voices of Darkness grew more insistent and fluttered around my mind like disturbed bats. Shaking them off, I focused on what was outside the ally-way. Through the gloom of the pre-dawn light, I could see three figures picked their way through the rubble and down the street. I backed farther into the ally and the protective shadows. Above the creatures, a cloud of pure darkness that radiated evil floated. It paused a moment in front of my hiding place, then swept past. I let out a soft sigh of relief. I crept to the front of the ally once more and glanced up and down the street, then I stepped backward and turned to walk down the alley. But as I turned around, I found herself face to face with a girl. In contrast to my own darkness, the Shadows that swirl around me, this other girl glowed with light, which flashed around her like armor. I flinched back again, my Shadow-cloak swirling around me as I pulled it closer to myself. I was scared, to put it bluntly. I had not seen anyone else in this place other than those slimy screeching things; and based on their appearance, I had a pretty good hunch that the rest of the inhabitants of this place were Bio-Mechanical beings too. Seeing this girl, a human like me, scared me even more. But at the same time, I felt drawn to this girl, who radiated Good more strongly than the floating Evil cloud had radiated evil. The shining girl seemed to choke, trying to say something but she seemed to be overcome with emotion. She reached for me as if to grab me. I reacted defensively, like I had been taught. When I was younger, my best friend at the orphanage had enrolled and paid for me to take Tae Kwon Do classes with her. I learned quickly because I finally had something to focus all my fear and pain on. So when this girl reached for my arm, I blocked her arm then retaliated with a strike aimed for her head. The other girl ducked underneath my arm. She backed up a step. Her eyes, which were glowing gold streaked with copper, met my dark blue-violet eyes. In an instant, the two of us, without planning, forethought or intending to, slid into fighting stances. There was a moment's pause and then we both lunged forward striking at the same moment with the same movement.

I aimed for the girl's head, snapping my arm out and around. My hand caught hers, as she made the same movement. Thinking quickly, I followed my foiled strike with a kick lashing out with my front leg, hooking around her leg and causing her knee to buckle; not at all my usual style. The other girl released my hand, then recovering smoothly from my kick, swung her other hand under my guard. I skipped backwards to avoid, then lashed out with my front leg again, this time in a round-house kick aimed for her head. It was an impressive kick, if I can brag a little; the top of my foot would have connected with her temple. This was impressive because she stood at least eight inches taller than my five foot stature. It would have connected, but the other girl ducked under my leg. She spun around in a reverse hook kick, which I blocked with both hands. I used my block to grab her leg and thrown her off balance enough to throw her to the floor. Surprisingly, she spun in mid-air and landed on her feet, crouching on the ground. She threw out her hand in a spear-hand attack aimed for my abdomen. I flipped myself over to avoid her attack then pushed off the ground again, propelling myself with a blast of Shadows that rocketed me upward. I landed 15 feet above the other girl on a largish boulder with a flat surface, changing my stance slightly to accommodate my preferred method of hand and palm strikes and punches. See, I am better at fighting with my hands and knees, because my kicks have always been weak. My legs aren't strong enough to support a style that uses kicks. The other girl's eyes narrowed again as she looked up at me. Then, in a blur of movement, I watched her leap up towards me. She jumped at the wall and bounced off of it and onto the flat surface of the rock on which I stood. I stepped back slightly as her momentum stayed with her long enough to set up her next attack. While she was still in the air, she lashed out with both feet, first one then the other in a double front kick. My mind on auto-pilot, I blocked her and fired in quick succession, several lightning-fast punches. The other girl blocked me just as fast, and avoided the last couple of my punches by flipping over my head. She landed behind me, and let loose a barrage of punches, strikes and other hand-based attacks. I blocked as fast as I could and interspersed my blocks with strikes and punches of my own. This continued for several moments until the sharp sound of flesh slapping on flesh was heard. In my haste to attack, I had slapped her hand away as hard as I could. My left palm stung from the force of the slap and I opened and closed my hand several times trying to shake the sting off. The other girl looked at me, her right hand rubbing her left wrist where I had slapped her. She uttered one bark of laughter then took a slight step back and swung her leg again in a round-house kick, then flashed it out again in a side-kick. I blocked her high kick, but I was not expecting her side-kick. Her foot connected with my chest and propelled me backwards off the rock. My breath burst out of my lungs rather suddenly at the strike and I fell through the air. Concentrating hard, I called on the Shadows beneath me. The swirling darkness rose up like a wave of water and caught me, cradling me gently. It gently set me down, right-side up. Above me, there was a lightning flash that dispersed my Shadows. The other girl leapt of the rock and landed just in front of me. She was glowing and shooting off little sparks of light. Dazed slightly, I looked up at her, shielding my eyes with one hand. I struggled to pull the Shadows around me in a protective cloak again. Surprisingly, the other girl bent down and held out a hand, offering to help me up. I grabbed her hand and hauled myself up. The girl laughed again, a cheery, encouraging sound that contrasted sharply with our dismal surroundings. I stiffened; her laugh was familiar. I looked at her face, squinting through the brilliance, trying to see her face. I sucked in a shaky breath; I recognized her face.

"Lizzy?" I gasped.

My name is Evangeline Toren and I think I'm in the Bionicle World.

…

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><p>(Lizzy's POV)<p>

I ran down the streets of Central Metru Nui, chasing after the cloud of Pure Darkness that is Makuta Teridax, my breath even and calm even though I was running a pretty fast pace. On my shoulders, in my peripheral vision, I could see the glittering edges of my armor. This was a new development of my powers that I was glad of. In my last fight with Makuta, I had heard the voice of the Toa of Light who had given me my powers. She had reminded me of the reason that I was here, and who else I had to find. My little sister, Evangeline, is lost in this city somewhere, and I intend to find her; which explains why I am now running after Makuta, farther into the City. My teammates were heading to the coast with two of the Av-Matoren. They were going to help the remaining Matoren there prepare to flee the City. I thought about the other six teens; the team was almost complete. We had a Fire Toa, James "Jimmy" Kirkland (I wonder if people call him Captain Kirke, like from Star Trek); Our Water Toa is Katherine Sailor, who prefers to be called Katie; The Ice Toa is an old friend of mine, Dave Shatterfate; Stone is my best friend ever, Brianne Carver; Mark Johnson, her friend, is our Earth Toa. Lastly our resident air head is young Alexander Stein-Myer, a kid who I now remember and recognize as formerly been at the orphanage I lived at until he was adopted by his own second cousin. The two Matoren, Tanma and Solek, had been with me since I had met them in Ga-Metru. They had acted as my guides, Tanma a little reluctantly. Solek though was just as I thought he would be, obsession with Toa and all.

I continued to run. I was surprised at how strong I felt and how long I was able to keep running without tiring. I guessed that my increase in stamina came from my armor, and that thought led me to remember something that Takaena Atriz had told me.

_Every time you learn more of your power, I grow weaker and become unable to use that aspect of my power. Do not worry or be afraid of this. I am ready to pass on, but first you must be able to use all my power. The same is true for the other Atriz. When you decided to fully embrace your power, you will take on a bio-mechanical form, very similar to my own. My point being that, since you and your teammates draw your power directly from us, when you fully take your power and achieve your Bionicle forms, we will fade and cease to exist. You are pretty much becoming us. How you call yourselves is up to you. The only reason we are still here is because we knew it was our destiny to pass our power on. We died in a great battle long before the Mata, the Metru the Nuva and all the rest. When the Shadows first appeared, we were created to fight them. We are light Toa; our powers are primarily light based. Your teams however are more traditional, the exception being the Inika. Anyways, once we pass our power to you, we can finally find the peace we have been waiting for, for nearly five millennia. On that day however, we will give you one last piece of advice, and I will tell you the secret that will get you home. But you will not remember it until you have finished what you originally came here to do. Then, returning home will be up to you._

Considering that what she had told me pretty much said that my friends and I are leeching the Atriz's power away from them and that she was ok with this, I feel really guilty for taking her power, but she said that this is why we are here; to take their place. It is a little odd though, that I always seem to be the first to discover and use a new power or ability. I was the first to use my mask power. The others were still learning theirs. And now I am the first to have armor; the rest of my team had yet to use their armor abilities. Granted, I probably had the most experience in the Bionicle-verse so this kind of stuff came naturally to me. I don't know. But what I do know is this: This armor is freaking awesome! I feel better connected to my powers because of it. And the idea that all of us will have the chance to fully become Bionicles sounds even better. I guess that it is a gradual process to achieve the rest of the Atriz's powers.

Smiling slightly at the prospect, I forced myself back to focusing on what I was doing and my suddenly buoyant spirits fell. My sister, Evangeline, is here in this City, somewhere and Makuta is trying to find her. I had to find her before her did. Each of us teens had been attacked as children by Makuta, but we all had been rescued by one of the Toa Nuva. There is no Shadow Toa besides the Atriz. My sister would have been alone. Who knows what Makuta told her or did to her. Suddenly I stopped short. I realized that this might be the reason for Eva's problems when we were younger. Thinking back, I thought about all the problems that she had had when she first arrived at the Orphanage. The Agency had considered putting her in a psychiatric hospital, but someone had talked them out of it. Eva had arrived on the doorstep terrified of everything especially the dark. She almost never spoke and would become nearly catatonic when she was scared. She wouldn't eat, or sleep or play, unless someone was there with her and she would wake, screaming in the middle of the night. I used to get up, cross the room and hold the younger girl until she calmed down. Eventually I was able to convince her that it wasn't all that bad; she faced her fears and conquered them. The Martial Arts classes that we had taken had helped too.

Eva had never told me why she had been so scared as a kid; I remember that when I would ask her, she would look away and change the subject or not talk to me for several hours. I soon learned not to ask her about it. But now that I thought about it, it was because of Makuta.

I was more determined than ever to kick his evil butt.

I was so lost in thought that I was not really paying attention to where I was going. Oddly enough, I felt like I knew where I was going. Then I figured out where I was. I had looped around, passing the Coliseum and was back near where my friends and I had fought the Rahkshi. If I cut through an alley between two buildings, I would be back. Perhaps this would be a better starting place than running around in circles following a black cloud. I crept down the alley, hearing footsteps at the opening. I jumped behind a large rock when I saw Makuta in his cloud form float past. He paused a moment, as if he saw or sensed me.

I pulled back, ducking my head. I didn't want to- I couldn't risk fighting him again; especially if Eva was nearby. The reason for thinking she was nearby is this: each of us teens appeared in our corresponding Metrus, except me. I ended up in the Great Temple, because it could be considered a nexus or central point for Toa Power, considering that it is where the Toa Metru came to be. If I was correct in this idea, then Eva should be somewhere around or even in the Coliseum since that was where Makuta hid for a while and, even just passing it, I could feel the remnants of his evil from the Metru days. It felt different than he did now, not that it mattered. After the cloud floated away, I got up and walked to the end of the alley. I almost ran into someone. They were surrounded by Shadows which looked like a cloak. Their Shadows, though, were shot through with purple, glowing with muted purple light. This Shadow felt different, kinder, more like the night rather than evil nothingness. The person's Shadow-hood fell back, revealing a pale face with large purple-blue eyes under a head of black-purple-streaked hair. I choked, trying to call her name, and fight tears at the same time.

I had found her! My sister, My Family!

I reached out to hug her, noting the fear in her eyes. In a blur of movement, Eva thrust my arm away and flung out her arm in a palm-strike to my head. I ducked underneath and stepped back. I looked at her, searching her eyes which glowed, the purple becoming brighter. She did not recognize me at all. Time had been unkind to us both. Eva had run away from the orphanage more than a year ago and I had not seen her since, though I had thought of her often. She must have lived on the streets, doing who-knows-what with her life. That time had scarred her again and she had forgotten that I was the one who comforted her at night and helped her to overcome her fears.

There was a momentary pause between the two of us, then, just like old times, we slid into fighting stances. Evangeline and I were always uber-competitive, and we would spar without pads and little supervision after class. I waited, reading her body language, which told me her first move. Eva has always been easy to read, especially in a fight. The set of her shoulders and the direction of her line of sight give away her attack plans every time. She flashed her arm out, aiming for my head. I mimicked the same move causing our hands to strike each other in midair, rather than our heads. I felt surprised when Eva disengaged and then snapped a hook-kick out, catching my leg and knocking me off balance. Eva almost never uses her legs in a fight; her legs just never were strong enough. But this time, I could feel the extra force in her kick. Smiling to myself, I thought _she's been practicing!_ I let go of her arm and balanced myself by sweeping forward and thrusting my hand underneath her blocking-hand in an open-palm strike. Eva skipped backwards to avoid then surprised me again with a round-house kick aimed at my head. _Impressive _I thought, ducking under her leg, _She is still flexible. She can still aim for my head, even though I'm more than six inches taller than her._ As I ducked, I spun around in my crouch, straightened up then lashed out a reverse hook. Had it connected, the kick would have caught her side and sent her flying into the wall. As it was, she blocked my leg by grabbing it. Eva smirked as she yanked on my leg, throwing me over her hip and toward the floor.

I gasped as the ground rushed up to meet me, but somehow I managed to spin in mid-air and land on my feet, crouching again to maintain my balance. I lunged, using a spearhead-hand strike that I aimed for her stomach. Eva avoided by flipping backwards, head-over-heels, her hands pressed against the ground. When she landed, I felt a gathering of her power, and watched as she used a blast of Shadows to catapult herself into the air and flip onto a largish, flat-topped piece of rubble. As she landed up there, I saw her shift her fighting stance to her more customary one. I remembered then why Eva and I had always been chosen by our teachers to compete in tag-team or team sparring fights against other schools. It was because our styles balanced each other perfectly. I prefer to use my legs because my kicks are stronger than my punches and my whole style is more offensive rather than defensive, whereas Evangeline relies on her hands, punches and strikes, and is more defense-oriented. I narrowed my eyes, trying to gauge the distance and Eva's intent. Deciding on a course of action, I launched myself at the wall, using it to jump higher onto the rubble. I misjudged the force necessary to get up there though and found myself in danger of flying right over the rock. Thinking quickly, I lashed out with my legs in a double front kick. Eva blocked, which stopped my forward momentum enough to land. Eva retaliated with a series of quick jabs. I had forgotten how fast her hands could be. I was able to block the first couple, then I flipped over her head to avoid the rest. I landed and turned to her, using a flurry of punches and strikes; the space on top of the rock was limited enough that I could not use my kicks without falling off. Eva blocked and retaliated and we slowly sped up the pace of our strikes, action and reaction. My mind was blank as I allowed myself to fall into a rhythm of blocking and punching until I felt a sting and heard a slap and I snapped back to reality. In her haste to block and attack at the same time, Eva had slapped my hand away with enough force that, if I had not been in a steady stance and had my feet firmly planted I would have staggered to the side and most likely fallen off. I looked at her, meeting her shining violet eyes once more, while rubbing my left wrist trying to relieve the sting. Eva stared back, clenching her fist several times. I allowed myself one sharp laugh at her expression. I then stepped back as far as the rock allowed me to and brought my leg up and let loose a round-house kick, which snapped back as my muscles complained at the stretch. Eva blocked the high kick, leaving herself vulnerable. As soon as I saw the opening, I shifted my plant foot and brought my knee into my chest. I threw my leg out again, out and back, in a side-kick. The side-kick was aimed lower and it caught her unprotected chest right in the middle. Her breath exploded out of her as she stumbled back, slipped off the edge and fell off the rock. Gasping, I lunged forward, trying to grab her hand, but her fingers slipped through mine.

Time seemed to slow down for me. I lurched, regaining my balance while tiny chips and flakes of rock clattered down the side of the flat-topped rock. Evangeline seemed to fall in slow motion, her eyes closed tightly and her face screwed up in an expression of concentration. Below her, the darkness on the ground shifted, rising up to meet her. It enveloped her completely. I raised a hand and called on my own power, causing a lightning-like burst of light. It drowned out all the shadows, including the ones wrapped around Eva. I jumped down off the rock, enjoying the theatrics in my powers that my emotions seemed to cause. I could hear and occasionally see little pin pricks and flashes of light. In front of me, Eva looked up from where she had landed, a dazed expression on her face and one hand thrown in front of her face to shield her eyes. I bent over and offered her a hand. She grabbed it and hoisted herself up. I couldn't keep it in. I let out a laugh out of pure relief and joy, which really didn't fit well with the gloomy surroundings. As I did, I finally got a handle on the light that kept shooting out of me. I felt Eva stiffen; her gasp on my hand tightening momentarily before she let go. She stared at my face, squinting a little through the light. I heard her take a shaky breath.

"Lizzy?" I heard her gasp.

I grinned and hugged her tight. "Hey little sis."

* * *

><p>(Reader's POV)<p>

While it was not the most ideal reunion, it was still a little bit of a tender moment for Lizzy; Evangeline on the other hand, was a little weirded out by Lizzy's exuberance. Finally calming down and explaining herself, Lizzy sat Eva down behind a large rock and the two caught up on what had happened since Eva had run away. Apparently she had been working odd jobs at the nearby, all year amusement park. She had picked up on a lot of skills, not all of which were good, like pickpocketing. But then, Lizzy noted, she was relatively happy and healthy, though a bit on the thin side and the older girl didn't feel like pressing the matter. She told Lizzy about all the people she had met and how she had continued to practice her martial arts by teaching some of the kids of the others who worked at the park. Then she turned the conversation away from herself by asking Lizzy what had happened to her and how she had gotten to the Bionicle Universe. For the next hour, Lizzy told Evangeline everything. From what she had done since Eva had left to the others on the team to the fights against Makuta; even the fact that they were sisters. At first, Eva was skeptical of this revelation and refused to believe her. Lizzy sighed. It had been easier to convince the 14 year old that they were in another dimension and the main inhabitants were Bio-Mechanical beings, but to mention that the two of them were sisters was just ridiculous to her. For several moments, Lizzy was quiet, trying to think of some way to convince Evangeline of the truth. The two girls were sitting in front of the doors to the Coliseum, Evangeline across from Lizzy. Around them, the Ruins of the City sparkled dimly in the morning light. Eva absently rubbed at her rib cage where Lizzy's side-kick had landed. Breaking through her thoughts, Lizzy smiled sheepishly.

"Yeah sorry about that…" she said, gesturing to Eva's actions. "I kinda forgot how strong my side-kicks are."

Evangeline smiled wanly. "I've been on the receiving end of your kicks before, though. This was a lot stronger than anything."

"Blame the armor." Lizzy said, shrugging and gesturing to the glittering armor, "It gives me the strength of a Toa. Good thing I was holding back anyways or I might have sent you through a wall or something."

"Yeah that might be bad." Eva chuckled.

"Still can't figure out how to turn it off." Lizzy muttered to herself.

Eva snorted and rolled her eyes.

Silence settled between the two as Lizzy went back to her thinking. Bored, Eva raised her hand to eye-level, palm up and focused on it. She drew on her power, conjuring up a small purple glowing ball in the center of her palm. She tossed it up and caught it. Lizzy watched, smiling slightly. Suddenly a thought struck her.

"I've got it!"

"Got what?"

"A way to convince you that we are sisters. My mask of course!"

Evangeline merely stared at the older girl like she was speaking Greek.

"Do you trust me?" Lizzy asked.

Eva sighed and nodded. Lizzy held out her hand and Eva, after a moment's hesitation, took it. Immediately, Lizzy's mask activated, appearing more solidly than before and hiding her face from view. A dome of light expanded around the two and settled, glowing bright gold and dusky purple.

Eva gasped at the sensation of falling. Suddenly it stopped and she found herself floating, alone and in grey nothing.

"Hello?" she called out, "Elizabeth? Where are you? Where are we?" There was no answer. Eva saw distant shapes silhouetted black against the grey. She looked around, searching for Lizzy, or anything familiar. She felt a chill pass over her as she heard the whispers of the dark once more; only now they were louder.

"Hello? Is someone there?" She called again. The whispers paused for a moment, then resumed louder than before. Eva cringed at the sound. _Make it stop_ she thought, remembered agony coursing through her mind. Around her, the grey turned darker, black shot through with sickly purple. Still the whispers continued.

"_Stop_" Eva whispered herself, hugging her arms across her chest. She was afraid, once again, as she remembered with clarity memories she would rather forget. The purple faded away, leaving only black emptiness around her. Eva whimpered softly.

Suddenly from behind her, a brilliance made itself known. The shine lightened the black to grey once again and brought out the purples in a range of colors, from royal purple to lilac. Eva, cringing at the dark, turned.

Behind her stood Lizzy. She looked older, more mature, the light that came from her filtering softly in patterns as if through leaves. Eva staggered forward towards the older girl.

"E-Elizabeth!" She called out, raising her hand up. She felt something in front of her hand and brushed it aside. The branch snapped back into place as she passed. Eva looked around. The light from Lizzy had torn the darkness to reveal a small forest glade. Lizzy stood in the middle, looking away from the younger girl. Eva called to her again. Lizzy turned, and for a moment Eva saw her as a Bionicle. A Toa, tall yet thin like Gali, her gold armor etched with copper while the un-armored parts gleamed snow white. In her hand was a long thing sword that sparked and crackled with energy. Movement out of the corner of her eyes, caused Eva to turn. Behind her appeared eight other Bionicle figures. The group seemed to be walking past Eva and Lizzy. The Red, carrying twin fire swords on his back wore a Kanohi Huna, the Great Mask of Invisibility. His armor was golden-red etched with a Ruby flame motif. Beside him stood a shorter figure colored blue, wearing the Great Mask of Mind Control, the Kanohi Komau, and wearing slivery-blue armor etched with Sapphire waves. The Water Toa was arguing with the Fire, gesturing with an unfurled metal fan with serrated edges. Behind them, a silvery-white armored Toa walked, his mask, one that Eva was unfamiliar with, was creased with concentration as he tried to ignore the bouncing acrobatic goldish-green Toa wearing Jaller Inika's Mask of Fate. Ahead of the arguing pair walked a bright orange and brown figure, swinging a Kama on a long chain and wearing a Pakari, the Great Mask of Strength. Though the figure was clearly a female, she was as big as the males on the team. Next to her walked a black armored figure with dusky silver etching of mountains on his armor and a mask that had not been seen in the Bionicle world for thousands of years. He was fingering a long handled ax. A head of the entire group, two smaller figures walked. Two Av-Matoren that Eva identified as Tanma, the Matoren partner for Lewa Nuva and Solek, the talkative White Av-Matoren who fought with the silent Kopaka.

As Eva watched, the images of the Toa wavered and shrank, revealing the teens that Lizzy had told her about. Dave, Brianne, Jimmy, Katie, Mark and Alex; the ones that Lizzy said were part of their team.

Evangeline jumped as a hand touched her shoulder. She turned to see Lizzy, looking like herself again, standing next to her. She had lost her armor and was wearing her regular clothes again, a yellow t-shirt, dark denim jeans and sneakers. Over her arm hung a worn denim jacket. Eva glanced back at the fading images of the other teens. Lizzy followed her line of sight.

"You saw that, huh? Good, I wanted to test a theory. If you saw that, then I'm right and I can share mine own thoughts and memories."

"I thought you said the others had not figured out how to use their armor abilities. They looked like real Toa." Eva said breathlessly. Lizzy looked at her confused. "Never mind. Forget it." Eva shrugged. Lizzy blinked then let it go.

"Ok… so if you saw that, then you should be able to see this." Lizzy said, taking Eva's hand, her eyes glowing bright and her mask faintly outlined around her face. She waved her hand through the air in front of Eva. In front of her, images wavered into existence and flashed by.

_A small child stood by the side of her mother's hospital bed. In her mother's arms lay a tiny bundle of blankets. The girl looked up and behind her at her father, standing by her side, a huge grin on her face. _

"_Do you want to hold her, Elizabeth?"_

"_Yes, pwease."_

_The man picked up the baby, as the older child clambered up into an armchair. The little girl held out her arms for the bundle. When the baby was settled in her lap the girl was grinning and cooing at the baby. The Baby opened her dark-blue almost purple eyes and looked into her older sisters copper-brown gold-streaked eyes._

_A feeling of love and curiosity_

_The little copper eyed girl ran through the house, a bottle in her hand. She slipped in a door and paused a moment. Her mother had not heard the baby's soft cries through the room monitor yet. The older child scaled the dresser next to the crib and carefully lowered herself into it. The baby was fussing, her tiny arms waving in the air. Singing softly, the older child gently propped the baby up against her lap and placed the bottle in the baby's mouth, allowing the younger to eat greedily._

_A feeling of peace_

_The copper eyed girl was sitting in the crib again, clutching the just recently sitting-up baby to her side. The violet eyed child was whimpering. _

"_Stay hidden" Whispered the girls' mother, covering the two with a blanket and piling pillows next to and in front of them._

"_Ma-ma wait… don't go." The copper-eyed girl whispered. Beside her, the baby grabbed her sister's longish hair and pulled in the bow that held the braid. The older child hissed. The door to the room burst open, and a large man, not their father, shoved his way in. The mother let out a screech and threw herself at the man. In a moment, the man had knocked her unconscious and was dragging her out of the room. Peeking over a pillow, the man missed seeing a pair of frightened copper colored eyes. The older sister had her hand over the younger's mouth, keeping her quiet. Outside she heard a police car pull up, siren wailing. There was a screech of tires and the sirens screamed away chasing another car. The older girl settled her younger sister and, pressing a finger to her lips, covered her head with a blanket. The copper-eyed girl slipped out of the room. Moments later, she came back dragging a bag with food and bottles. She slid the things into the crib one by one and climbed back in. The younger girl was crying when her sister pulled off the blanket. The older sister hushed her and sang._

_A feeling of terror and sadness_

_The violet eyed baby sitting on her sister's lap, trying to hide behind her hair. The other had silent tears running down her face. The adults didn't think that she could understand them, but the copper-eyed girl was smarter than she looked. The police officers were talking about how the kidnappers had vanished, along with the parents. The two girls had no other family. _

_The copper-eyed girl noticed that her sister was about to start crying again. In a soft voice, she began to tell her a story. _

_A feeling of bravery and loss_

_Watching as an adult walked away with the crying baby in her arms, the violet-eyed child reaching over the woman's shoulders for her sister. Screaming her name and trying to get to her, pushing against restraining hand and ignoring comforting voices that she did not know. A feeling of strong loss, fear, sadness and anger toward those who took her away._

"_EVA! EVA! EVA! NOOOO! EVA, EVA, EVA!"_

"Eva? EVA? EVANGELINE! Are you alright?"

Evangeline jumped, opening her eyes; the voices were so similar, though one was pitched higher, the cry of a young child. The other was worried yet closer, older and lower in tone. She turned to see Lizzy standing there, the previous glow fading as she noticed the younger girl's expression. A pained look crossed the elder girl's face.

"Lizzy…" Eva whimpered, then jumped forward and hugged her sister around her middle. Surprised, Lizzy took a moment to recover, then smiling gently, hugged her back, one arm around Eva's shoulders, the other resting gently on her head.

"Told ya."

Eva sniffled. "What was all that?" came the muffled question from Lizzy's shoulder.

"Everything I remember from before… before we were separated. I only just started remembering myself. I had been blocking the memories for a long time. It would explain why I thought of you as a younger sibling when you came to the Orphanage." Lizzy murmured, trying to hold her sister close, afraid to lose her again. "You probably don't remember because you were so young. I shouldn't; I was only two and a half at the time, but I do… vividly." Eva sniffled again.

Lizzy put her hands on Eva's shoulders and looked into her eyes. "Don't you worry about anything. We found each other now and I don't think that we are going anywhere. We are together, whether we like it or not. We should head to the coast and see the rest of the team now. They will be glad to meet you; Brianne especially."

"Brianne is here?" Eva looked up hopefully, her eyes alight. Lizzy nodded. Lizzy had introduced Eva to Brianne years before. "What color is she?"

"Orange." Eva gave Lizzy a look.

"Orange?"

"Orange."

"That's kinda weird."

"Orange is close enough to brown. She's stone."

"Ahh ok… that makes more sense."

The two girls started laughing, the tension and left-over emotions from Lizzy's memories forgotten.  
>Suddenly, Lizzy choked, pain clouding her features as she lurched forward. Eva grabbed her shoulders, supporting the older girl.<p>

"What's wrong?"

Lizzy moaned and across her face flickered her mask. Around them, their surroundings bled with poison green, trickling down the walls like paint. Glancing around her, Eva could see vague shapes behind the glimmering walls. Concentrating, the younger sister built up her power, eyes glowing violet and the air around her hand crackling with energy. Shouting in pain, Lizzy made a slashing movement and around the two sisters, the crumbling walls vanished. Around them the dome of light that had been protecting them shattered. Around them was a cloud of Darkness, which Eva reacted to, throwing a wave of power out. Fast as her reaction was, Eva couldn't counter fast enough. Lizzy cried out in pain as a shadow lashed at her like a whip, leaving a small cut across her cheek. Grabbing her arm, Eva hauled Lizzy to her feet. Turning, the Shadow girl raised a hand and shot a purple blast at the whirling darkness around them. Running forward and dragging the other girl, she carved a path through. Lizzy shook her head, trying to clear it. Looking up, she could see the edges of the tunnel Eva had carved out were collapsing around them. Taking a deep breath, Lizzy threw a wave of Light energy away from herself, dispersing the darkness. A pained yell was heard, then a hissing voice. Eva cringed, losing her footing for a moment. Lizzy, understanding the voice, grabbed her sister's arms as she fell and used her momentum to hoist the younger girl onto her back, so she was carrying her piggy-back style. Lizzy took off at a dead sprint, away from that place, searching for the fastest route out of the City's center. Eva called out directions from her back, guiding Lizzy through the ruined streets. Eventually, the two girls ended up on the main road back towards Ga-Metru. Lizzy slowed her speed a little, but still ran, knowing that she had to catch up with the other teens before there was trouble.

Soon, in the distance, Lizzy saw six figures. On her back, Eva looked behind, a feeling of being followed persistent in the back of her mind. She ignored her discomfort as Lizzy neared the others.

"BRI! DAVE! ALEX! HEY GUYS, LOOK WHO I FOUND!" Lizzy yelled to them. The whole group turned around to see the Light powered teen run up. The Dark powered teen slid from her back, as Lizzy came to a stop. There was a flash of light and Lizzy's armor vanished, leaving behind her normal clothes.

"About time," She muttered then, slinging an arm around Eva's shoulder, she said "Guys, I want you to meet our Shadow Toa and my little sister. This Evangeline Toren." Eva timidly waved to the others, who greeted her with varying amounts of enthusiasm. Brianne was the most enthusiastic, as she ran forward and grabbed the smaller girl around the waist and spun her around like a doting aunt.

"Eva!" she squealed, hugging the girl tightly, "We thought you were gone! I'm glad you're okay."

"I will be if you put me down, Bri," Eva gasped out. Brianne nearly dropped her, apologizing for nearly crushing her. Eva brushed herself off and smiled at the orange clad girl. Laughing, Lizzy pointed out the rest of the team in turn and introduced them one by one.

"This is Dave, he's Ice. Remember him?" She asked to which Eva nodded and shook Dave's hand. She flinched slightly at his hand, which was cold, reflecting his power. "Over here we have Katie. She's our Water Toa." Katie waved. "This is Mark," The earth powered teen grinned, while Eva smiled faintly. "That's James over there. He's Fire."

"Isn't he the leader since he's Fire?" Eva asked. The other teens shared uneasy looks.

"We're not quite sure how we are going to handle that." James said, looking guiltily at Lizzy. Lizzy shrugged and turned to the last human in the group.

"That's Alex, remember him? He's the one who set the sofa on fire three years ago." Lizzy said. Brianne snorted with laughter, while Eva turned a baleful eye on the Air powered boy. He grinned and turned to Lizzy.

"You sure took your time." He laughed. Lizzy growled at him.

Ever the theatrical one, Alex, an aspiring actor, went down on one knee in front of Lizzy, arms raised to her like he was begging, or a Shakespearean actor. "Oh how glorious a sunset to have our leader and our Light return to us! Know this, you Destiny Heroes," He cried, springing to his feet, turning to the others and opening his arms wide, "Our glorious leader has returned." He turned back to Lizzy. "Would that I would be allowed to beg of you, Most Wonderful Light of the Team, never again to leave our sight, for surely I would pine." Behind him, Dave and Katie were looking at him as if contemplating snatching him up and dumping him in the nearest insane asylum or deep dark pit, which ever they could find first. Mark, Brianne and James were on the ground roaring with laughter, while Evangeline peeked around her sister's side and stared at the boy, trying to figure out what was going on. Lizzy just stood there and waited for Alex to finish.

Grinning and shaking her head at the younger boy's ridiculousness, she replied to him, "Yeah You would pine and I'm a Maple tree. Get over yourself, Alex." The Air teen grinned himself and, laughing, got to his feet. Brianne handed Lizzy her bag and the group set off towards the coast and the last remaining village on Metru Nui.

**A/N: Please let me know what you think. Especially about The fight between the two sisters. The more reviews I get the faster I work! Catch ya later!**


	10. To the Turaga Metru, From Mata Nui

**A/N: OH MY GOD I AM ALIVE!**

**Lizzy: Yeah hi everybody, this is Elizabeth Toren, better known as Lizzy from The Toa Rahini Chronicles… Half-Angel-Writer would apologize but I feel that it would be superficial at best and not worth your time reading some lame ass apology from her. I will say this though: Updates over the summer will happen, hopefully, much more frequently seeing as she won't have school to freak out over and I will be standing over her shoulder with my sword. **

**Angel would be here to write the A/N but she is currently digging either a bomb shelter or a grave in the backyard… I can't tell which. I think she afraid of the angry reviews she is about to get.**

**That being said, I will apologize for Angel not giving you a warning about this being the last chapter. Now before you freak out, it is not the last chapter of the entire story. What kind of an author would she be if she left her favorite character locked in some heinous unnamed and hereto unknown villain's damp, moldy, Rahi infested dungeon? And what kind of a character would I be if I let her. No, I'm not going there. **

**Anyways, here are a couple of things she asked me to put in here for her.**

**To ShatterDave and LokaCola: Thanks guys for all the support and the continued use of your OCs. Angel hopes they still live up to your expectations. And Loka? Don't worry, Mark's Makuta backstory will come up in the first chapter of the new story.**

**To biolaj1998: Dude, you have given Angel some awesome ideas. But please, lay off the nagging a little. She's got enough people yelling at her at home and at work. Oh and she might have to tweak your characters a little bit to fit them into the story. It will be interesting, though, I promise, I've seen the story outline she has planned. **

**To Toatiftaf: Please tell me you read the rest of the story too and not just the crappy ass prologue. Please? Oh but thanks for the cookie… want some fudge?**

**And to Kage uingu shukun and nomercy745: Thanks for adding this to your alerts list.**

**Evangeline: Sis? Do the disclaimer, shut up and let them read.**

**Lizzy: Okay, Okay, fine. Disclaimer: Half-Angel-Writer only owns the plot and her characters. Everything else belongs to … um…**

**James: To the people who own Bionicle. Don't make it to complicated, Lizzy.**

**Lizzy: Yeah, whatever.**

**Enjoy, while I go keep Angel from convincing Mark and Brianne to bury her alive.**

Chapter Nine

To the Turaga Metru, From Mata Nui

"It's about time the two of you got back! We were beginning to get worried. We thought you were Makuta-bones. Oh and you found a bunch of strange Rahi and brought them with you, brilliant."

Lizzy grinned, looking at the Av-Matoren who had accosted Tanma and Solek at the entrance to the village on the coast. Tanma started yelling and carrying on about being dragged along on a mad expedition, being chased by Ash-bears (the way he told it, the bear had been about thirty feet tall), attacked by Makuta and then having to deal with a bunch of girls the whole time was, quote "worse than several love sick Ga-Matoren." Shaking her head, Lizzy walked out of earshot of Tanma, who was then breathing hard with Solek hanging on his arm trying to get him to calm down. The Light powered teen laughed quietly, hearing Solek giving a better account of their adventures with the teens. She walked back over to the other teens standing in the center of the small village, some of whom were pulling on sweaters, gloves or scarves against the dropping temperatures. James had a camera out and was busy snapping pictures of everything while talking to Brianne who was looking back towards the City, paying the Fire powered teen little attention. The other teens were looking around themselves, curious about the small huts and piles of supplies and weapons that the remaining Av-Matoren had stockpiled, and curious about the Matoren themselves. In return, the twenty or so Av-Matoren who remained on Metru Nui, gathered around, peering around doorways, walls, and their friends. Katie was hiding behind Alex trying not to meet the staring eyes of the Matoren.

Lizzy walked up to the group and made a conscious effort to speak English rather than the Matoren Language, so the Matoren would not understand. She smiled reassuringly at Katie and fist bumped Alex. Coming out of from behind Dave and Mark, Eva handed her sister a thick sweater before hugging her arm as if it were a lifeline.

"So the Av-Matoren believe Solek, Tanma and I, when we say that the eight of us are the Destiny Heroes, but they don't believe us when we say that we need to evacuate the City. They seem to think that their combined abilities, plus the Great Temple -which I might remind you is in ruins- will protect them from anything Makuta will throw at them." Lizzy said, smiling down at Eva, and then looking at each of the others in turn.

"Are you serious?" Dave nearly yelled. Katie jumped, startled by his outburst.

"Ackk! Jeeze, Dave! Chill out and bring it down a couple decibels"

"Sorry… Are they serious? They don't see the clouds gathering over the Coliseum, or notice the wind picking up, or the general feeling of darkness that as increased since we left the City? They don't notice every textbook clue of a villain attack? Okay, so now what? I say that we just pack up, find or build a boat and leave them here to deal with it themselves." Dave said, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

Brianne punched him, lightly in on the arm; or rather, lightly to her. Around her face flickered an orange image of a Great Mask of Strength. Dave stumbled to the side.

"Whoops, sorry Dave." Brianne said, laughing. "I'm still having a hard time controlling my mask here." Lizzy smiled, while Alex laughed with James and Katie. Even Evangeline hid a grin behind her hand. Grumbling, Dave turned away from the Stone powered teen.

"Why would we leave them behind? Isn't it, like, a Toa's job to protect Matoren?" Asked Katie, "From what Solek told me, the Toa have always been protectors."

"We are not Toa, in case you haven't noticed." Dave retorted, glancing at her.

"Yet… we are not Toa yet." Evangeline said softly, her voice barely above a whisper. The other teens turned to the Shadow powered teen. "We are meant to become Toa, someday soon. That is was Xiaxtl told me when I came through the portal." And what I saw when Lizzy was showing me her memories, She thought, But if I told them that, they wouldn't believe me. Embarrassed, she ducked her head down, hiding behind her bangs to escape everyone's gaze. Pulling playfully on her sister's ponytail, Lizzy looked at the others.

"We will have to try and convince the Av-Matoren to leave. Metru Nui isn't safe anymore, even for Light Matoren. James, what do you think we should do?" She said, turning to the Fire teen.

"Ah bahbah wha… why are you asking me?" James nearly shrieked, waving his hands in front of himself.

"Because you are supposed to be the leader." Dave growled.

"S-says who!"

"Says tradition, that's who." Brianne said, her eyes hard.

"Screw tradition! Lizzy should be the leader! I don't want to; I might mess up real badly."

"In every Toa Team, the Fire Toa has always been the leader, not the Light Toa." Katie piped up. Lizzy stayed silent with Evangeline. As much as she would have like to been the leader, having had plenty of experience as one beforehand, she understood how it worked and agreed with the others that James should be the leader.

Alex slung an arm around his friend's shoulder. "You can't fight tradition, dude. We need a game plane, because, judging by how quickly the temperature is dropping and how fast the wind currents are changing, I'd say we have about two hours before all hell breaks loose." James looked at his friend. Alex was being oddly serious for someone who was always goofing around. And if James had learned anything from being friends with Alex it was that when Alex is being serious, you know you are in trouble. James closed his eyes, trying to think. What would Tahu do in a situation like this? He wondered. When he reopened his eyes, he flinched. The others were looking expectantly at him.

"Alright, alright! I'll do it, Okay? Sheesh." Sighing James ran a hand down his face. He grabbed a short stick nearby and knelt on the ground.

"Okay, here's what I think we should do. The Great Temple is right on the shoreline, right? Ok so we have to move all of the Av-Matoren's transports to behind the temple and anchor them there. I agree with Lizzy's theory that the Great Temple serves as a nexus for Toa energies, so we should have the best chance of holding out there for a while. We would have to build defenses, like ramparts, walls, pitfalls, traps; you know that kind of stuff. If we can hold Makuta there long enough and without too much difficulty, then we should be able to leave the Av-Matoren there and they should be relatively safe. If not, we evacuate to the transports and head for Mata Nui." James spelled out his plan, giving details as to the defenses of the Temple, based on Lizzy's description of the place and sketched out a rough map in the dirt by their feet. The group crouched down to see the map and make their own suggestions to the defenses. Each teen received something to work on, based on their abilities. Behind them, Solek walked up and looked over their shoulders.

"What are you guys planning?" He asked. The teens looked up to see Solek right behind them with Tanma and the leader of the Av-Matoren walking up to them. Katie elbowed James, to give him a hint that he needed to explain.

"Oh… um… we were just planning defenses for the Great Temple." James said, switching from English back to Matoren.

"We are not moving from our village!" The village leader stated, his mask set in a determined expression, "We will not be chased from our homes again."

"That is the worst thing to do now! And the worst place to do it. This village has no defenses and the way it is designed there is no way to make a decent defense!" Lizzy cried, jumping to her feet and staring the Matoren down. "Teridax has more power than ever before and he will stop at nothing to destroy you; us too. Teridax is not like any of the Makuta you fought in Karda Nui. He is the mastermind behind everything that those Makuta did. He's a psychotic genius masterminded villain who has nearly unlimited power now that Mata Nui is gone."

"We have made our choice. We WILL hold him here. Any outsiders can leave." The leader scoffed at the teens. He turned away, leaving Solek and Tanma staring after him. Tanma turned to the Teens.

"Do you really think that it will be that bad?" He asked. Mark nodded. Behind him, Dave was seething with anger. James sighed and drew a new map of the Av-Village, trying to see if defenses would be feasible. He looked up at Lizzy and Dave.

"There is no way they could defend a village like this, even with our help." He said, hopelessly. Lizzy groaned in frustration. Dave glowed slightly, his face glowing with white light while his eyes were icy blue-almost white and hard as diamonds instead of their usual brown. Suddenly there was a *Bang* and the Ice Teen disappeared. He reappeared with another *Bang* in front of the Village leader. Across his face, glittering frosty white, was a strange mask that none of the other teens recognized. Dave seized the leader and slammed him against the wall of one of the buildings, glaring at him. Lizzy and James ran forward to drag him back, before he hurt the Matoran or himself.

"You would condemn your people to death or enslavement because you cannot unbend your pride enough to take advice and retreat? Do you really think you can hold off the currently most powerful being in this dimension? It would be a massacre. If you thought that Makuta using your people to create Shadow Matoren was bad, just wait. I'm sure Teridax knows how to keep us from reversing the effects like Takanuva did. You and your people will be lost forever." The irate teen growled. Lizzy laid a hand on his shoulder and when he glanced over his shoulder, she shook her head almost imperceptibly. The Ice teen's eyes were still glowing. James cleared his throat quietly. Dave jerked his head around to look over his other shoulder and met James' eyes briefly. Dave slowly looked back at the Matoren, who was hanging about a foot and a half of the ground by Dave's hand. Slowly the Ice teen lowered the Matoren to the ground and stepped back, breathing heavily through his nose, trying to calm himself down. The Matoren massaged his chest-plate and stared at the taller boy.

James stepped forward slightly, drawing the Matoren's attention away from Dave, who Lizzy was trying to drag back. "You will get your people ready to move everything to the Great Temple. You will have your transports ready to go at a moment's notice. And you will help us defend the temple and if need be, you will help us get past the Great Barrier and get to the Island of Mata Nui." The boy's voice was harsh and betrayed a temper to rival Tahu's. Lizzy stared at the back of James' head, hardly believing her ears. James sounded like a natural born leader and was surprised by his intensity. The Matoren was quivering, out of fear she thought, but it might have been anger. Turning on his heel, the Matoren fled. Lizzy let out a sigh and released her death grip on Dave's arm; James watched the retreating figure, his shoulders tense. As the Matoren vanished from view, James let out a huge sigh of relief and sagged, his tough leader persona extinguishing like a candle flame. The other teens, who had been listening to the whole exchange, came up behind him and clapped him on the shoulder, complimenting him on how he handled the situation. Even Dave, who kept shooting glares at the point where the Matoren had vanished, was with them. Behind the group, Lizzy stood with a thoughtful expression on her face, her arms crossed and head tilted to the side as if she was considering something. Smirking slightly, she turned away and walked over toward the edge of the village. Staring off at the distant City, Lizzy saw darkness covering it, giving it the appearance of a hurricane. Out of the darkness came flashes of lightning, illuminating the clouds around it. Beside her, James walked up and stood, staring in the same direction.

"Well that could have gone better, I think." He spoke up. Lizzy grinned and elbowed the taller teen in the side.

"Nah, it went as well as it could." She said, turning to leave and help the Matoren pack their supplies and start moving to the Temple. She paused a moment, next to James and said quietly, "You did good, Jim, You did good. You are going to be a great leader." James turned to look at her as she walked away. That is one odd girl, He thought, shaking his head and turning to his own tasks, I still think she would be a much better leader than I would. He met up with Brianne, Mark and Katie and headed to the Great Temple to start building the defenses before the Matoren arrived.

Within an hour, the entire village was empty of life. The Matoren made their way to the Great Temple, accompanied by Lizzy, Eva, Dave and Alex. The two boys had used their elemental abilities to create a sled made of Ice and moved by gusts of wind created by Alex, who wore a ridiculous grin every time he used his power. Below them and to the front of the sled, the Matoren walked briskly, chatting quietly. The majority of them were glad to leave. The oppressive darkness had begun to weigh on their minds, causing them to become depressed and they missed their friends among the other Matoren. Many still remembered their time as Shadow Matoren and were struggling not to panic. As they moved towards the Temple, Tanma and Solek led the way, while the four teens brought up the rear. Evangeline kept looking around because she felt that they were being followed. Lizzy could also feel something, but she kept brushing it off as feeling the approaching darkness from the City. The other two focused on moving the supplies, Dave paving the way for the sled with ice and guiding the barge-like ice sculpture. Ga-Metru was devoid of sound and Rahi, both of which should have been plentiful. The silence was eerie, and when they noticed it, the four teens grew tense and anxious. Lizzy called up to Dave and Alex, both riding on the sled to keep it moving, and had them stop. The two jumped down and had a hurried discussion.

"Something's off, I can't be the only one who's noticed" Lizzy whispered.

"No, I noticed too." Dave said, glancing around again. "We're running behind schedule and out of time."

Alex nodded in agreement, his face serious. "We have to move faster. The transports are all ready to go and judging by the shift in power, we are going to have to evacuate. There is no way that we can keep all this back."

"Shift in power? You felt it too?" Lizzy asked. Alex nodded.

"Some shift; we all felt it too." Tanma piped up behind Dave.

"Not good, especially if the Matoren can feel it. We have to get everyone to the Temple, now." Lizzy said.

"Guys…"

"How do we do that?" Alex asked.

"How fast can you guys move the sled? We have to load everyone on board and use that." Lizzy replied.

"Guys? Problem here."

"I think we can move substantially faster. So long as we can keep the Matoren calm." Dave mused.

"Hey! Guys! We have a problem here." Eva yelled, grabbing Lizzy's arm and pulling her out of her huddle with the others, pointing back towards where they had come from.

"What Eva? We already know we have a problem." Lizzy said exasperatedly, turning around. "Oh, that problem."

Behind them, the storm system had begun to move, forming into a huge clawed hand reaching out from the center of the city. The temperature around them dropped like a rock, causing the humans' breath to fan out in front of their faces. Lizzy's eyes widened in shock; Dave swore under his breath; the temperature drop was not his doing, but rather the effect of the storm system or whatever power Makuta was using. Eva whimpered slightly. The clouds were moving quickly.

Spinning around, Lizzy shouted to the others. "Hurry! Get them all on the sled and get it moving! We're not too far from the Temple." Dave ran to the sled and focused on his powers, the icy sled quickly doubling in size as the teen used the surrounding moisture and the already near freezing temperatures to add to it. On the side, he created a set of stairs. Lizzy and Eva gathered up the Matoren and soon almost all were on the sled, except Tanma and Solek. Alex ran forward and launched himself up to the rear to the sled. He let loose a blast of air, a steady torrent that forced the sled to move forward. At the front of the sled, Dave kept up a continuous stream of ice, paving a track for the sled. Slowly at first, but quickly picking up speed, the sled moved forward. Lizzy, her mask glittering over her face, grabbed Tanma and Solek and threw them onto the stairs of the sled. They scrambled up the stairs and stood next to Alex. Lizzy grabbed Eva and ran after the sled. Drawing up next to it, Lizzy shoved her sister onto the stairs. Her momentary loss of speed caused her to fall behind, losing ground as the sled pulled away.

"LIZZY!" Eva cried, hanging on to the stair rail, leaning out and reaching for her sister. Lizzy ran her hardest, but without her armor to boost her stamina, she tired quickly. Crying out again, Eva let loose a stream of Shadow that reached out for Lizzy. Reaching out herself, Lizzy shot out her own stream of Light, which intertwined with Evangeline's. The combined streams of power looped around Lizzy's waist and yanked her off her feet, pulled her forward and slammed her into the stairs. Breathing hard, Lizzy found her sister hugging her tightly. Lizzy patted her head, then got to her feet. With Eva trailing behind, Lizzy hurried up the stairs, to find the Av-Matoren huddled at the center of the sled. She sent Eva to check on Tanma and Solek, and then went to stand near Alex. The Air powered teen seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face, while drops of perspiration dotted his forehead. Lizzy realized that his output of power was going to tire him out very quickly.

"Alex, you have to access your armor ability." She shouted over the sound of hurricane force winds. The Air boy shook his head.

"I have to have my mask power first." He called back. "James kept trying on the way to the village and couldn't. Brianne was able to get hers for a moment, but couldn't sustain it for long because she doesn't fully understand her mask yet. That's a theory at least. Katie couldn't figure out what to do or how to trigger it even though she has her mask."

Lizzy was about to say something when Dave yelled out, "We're here! Alex, kill the wind or we're going to crash!" The wind coming from the boy stopped, and he fell to his knees, exhausted. Lizzy helped him up, slung his arm over her shoulder and half dragged him over to the stairs. Dave led the Matoren off and into the temple, past Brianne who was waving them through a gap in a wall of rock.

"Come on Alex. We've got to hurry." Lizzy hissed. The Air boy, tired as he was, tried to pick up the pace. Lizzy staggered, as Alex lost his footing. Suddenly, Eva seemed to appear next to him and seized his other arm. Both girls hurried forward until they reached the wall. There, Mark replaced Lizzy. Ahead of them, they saw Dave dumping the remaining supplies behind the wall. There was a flurry of activity as a group of Matoren surged forward and grabbed everything, carrying it off to load onto the transports. Dave then vanished behind the ramparts.

"James needs you on the wall with him." The Earth powered boy said to Lizzy, as he and Eva helped Alex walk to the back of the Temple. Once behind the wall, Lizzy glanced around and spotted a steep flight of stairs set into the side of the wall and climbed up. Below her, Brianne ran inside. She stood just behind the open section and, with a quick movement, caused the missing section to thrust up out of the ground and form a seamless wall once again. Lizzy reached the top to find James glancing through a pair of binoculars. Next to him, Dave was concentrating on using the now unneeded sled to fortify the wall and coat the ground in front of the wall with slippery ice. Katie stood a little ways away, steadily filling a wide trench with water. Over this trench was an ice covered bridge, which suddenly broke apart and fell into the water with several splashes. Lizzy turned to see Brianne staring intently at where said bridge used to be. Next to her were Tanma and Solek, both more serious than Lizzy had ever seen them, save in the stories. Nodding to her best friend, Lizzy walked over to James.

"All the Matoren are inside the defenses." She said, "James, there is no way we can keep this back, or even fight it for long." James nodded.

"How bad do you think the attack is going to be?" He asked.

"Worse than anything you've faced before, I would think." Came a voice from behind those on the wall. Katie and James turned to see Evangeline mounting the top of the stairs, Mark right behind her. She walked over to the group and stood next to Lizzy and Brianne, while Mark stood next to Katie.

"Alex is resting with the Matoren. He thinks that he should be recovered enough to join us in a few moments." Eva mumbled, shivering almost convulsively. Lizzy reach over and grasped her sister's hand, hoping to calm her down.

"What's the matter, Eva?" Brianne asked. Eva continued to stare out at the storm front.

"The Darkness… it's so strong. I-I've never felt it this s-strong before. H-how are we s-supposed to fight this? W-we're not s-strong enough." Eva stuttered. Brianne put an arm around the younger girl's shoulders and hugged her tightly. Lizzy's heart fell seeing her sister so affected by the approaching storm.

"It's okay, we just have to hold it long enough for the Matoren to get the transports off the ground" James, assured them, matter-of-factly. The others nodded. Lizzy looked over at Dave, who now had his eyes closed.

"Hey Dave? Did you figure anything else out about your Mask?"

"Yeah, I think so." He replied, opening his eyes and turning to her. "It's called the Norahki, the Great Mask of Teleportation. I'm still trying to figure out the limits, but as far as I can tell, I can teleport up to ten people with me. I'm not sure about the range though." Lizzy nodded, impressed. Behind them, they heard slow footsteps on the stairs. The whole team turned around to see Alex standing at the top of the stairs, hands on his knees, panting hard.

"Dudes, you couldn't have, *whew* made the stairs *pant* a little less steep?" Alex said looking at Mark and Brianne, who grinned. The two ground element powered teens walked over to the Air and helped him over to the others. "Oh jeeze! We have to fight that? Great, just great. As if the Rahkshi weren't hard enough."

"Not really the best time for joking around." Mark said softly. Suddenly, Eva doubled over, clutching her head. At the same time, Lizzy cringed, one of her hands flying up to her eyes. The other teens flinched slightly, feeling a shock. Eva looked up from the ground, her eyes glowing brilliant violet, while Lizzy straightened up, her own eyes glowing golden once again. The other teens crowded close, as Evangeline stood up, her eyes hard.

"It has begun." The sisters said together. James froze, staring at the approaching storm. Dave whirled around and said to the two Matoren behind them, "Tanma, Solek, go tell the others to start loading the Transports. And if they already are, tell them to hurry up and get going. We will catch up and meet you at the Great Barrier." The two Matoren saluted and hurried down the stairs. The teens heard a stumble, a cry, several thuds, then a clear "Ow!" Katie hurried over to the edge of the wall and glanced over. Slowly she walked back, a small smirk on her face.

"Solek must have tripped and knocked Tanma over and they fell down the stairs." Katie reported.

Below they heard, "That was your fault Solek" *thunk*

"Ow… I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

The team let out a few chuckles which quickly subsided. They turned back to the front of the wall. The Storm was closer than before. The two sisters still stood at the edge of the wall, looking like ancient sentinels, ready for battle. Lizzy pulled out her sword and lit it up. Behind her, Lizzy heard the sounds of the other teens pulling out their weapons. Eva turned to see. With a rattle of chain links, Brianne uncoiled her Kamas. Dave held his tomahawks, trying to decide whether to use the staff function or not; he decided to keep them separate until necessary. Mark's battle ax rang slightly as he drew it while James pulled out his twin fire swords and turned up the flames. The flickering light spread a warm feeling to all of them. Alex checked over his crossbow, making sure that the metal was undamaged and the firing mechanism was clear. Katie drew her fans, which glimmered slightly with watery light. Lizzy turned to her sister.

"Now would be a good time to see what kind of weapon you were given." She whispered to her. Eva nodded and reached over her shoulder. Confusion then panic spread across her face when she felt nothing. Alex tapped her on the shoulder then pointed to her side. Hovering on either side of her waist were two handle-like thin cylinders. She took them and held them in front of herself. With a clicking/clinking sound, the weapons expanded themselves outward, metal sliding out and locking into place. The weapons formed into odd bladed weapons, the handles set into the weapons, which curved outwards, tapering to a sharp point. If you looked at them right, the weapons looked like they would fit together and form a deadly version of the Yin-Yang symbol, the coloring being purple and silver rather than black and white. Eva gripped the handles and the weapons curved over her arms, the points ending behind her elbows.

"Now those are cool!" Brianne said, staring at them. The other teens were looking at the Shadow teen's weapons, impressed.

"Can we get back to the matter at hand and ogle at the shiny blades later?" James said, stepping up to the edge of the fortification. "Not that those aren't cool; they really are, Eva, they are awesome. But we just don't have time to stop and stare." The sisters grinned.

The Storm was less than a mile away and closing fast. Lizzy raised her sword and pointed it skyward. Using it to channel her power, she created a sparkling wall of light in front of the walls of the temple. James' plan was to distract Makuta long enough for the Matoren to get away. The teens also thought that exposing Makuta to a large amount of Toa energies would weaken him and perhaps keep him from following them for very long, if they could keep his attention on them. Lizzy took a deep breath, and braced herself for the onslaught of Makuta's attack. The Storm slammed into her shield, static electricity snapping and crackling as the two opposite elements touched. Lizzy could feel the shield as if it were a part of her, so the attack was mental and physical to her.

"Ahh!" She grunted at the suddenness of the pain. She slid backward, digging her feet into the ground as the force of the Storm pressed against the wall and caused it to recoil slightly. Shouting, Evangeline threw out her arm, an arc of Shadow energy lashing out and spreading out against Lizzy's shield, covering the cracks and strengthening the weakened areas. James signaled to Katie and Alex who nodded and lifted their arms, calling on their own elements. Above the fight, the clouds of the true Metru Nui sky darkened to a tumultuous bluish-green. Thunder growled when lighting flashed, and a torrential rain began. The winds of the teen-controlled storm blew against those of Makuta's storm, forcing it back slightly. Down below, Dave noticed a change in the Shadow Storm's structure. The dark clouds fell to the ground, resolving into shapes, indistinct at a distance. Dave called to James and pointed out the new threat.

"Okay, that's different." James muttered. The Storm had resolved itself into a vast army marching on the Great Temple.

"Since his first assault failed to have any results, I would guess that Teridax is changing his plan of attack." Brianne mused aloud, "and if we can hold them at the wall, it gives the Matoren more time to get away." The others agreed, each trying to think of a defense plan. The teens spread out along the wall, each readying their elemental powers, preparing to unleash them in full force against their attacking enemies. The Shadow army closed in on the Temple and the eight teens let loose with all their might. Torrents of water and blasts of fire carved trenches through the lines of foes, drowning some and burning others to a crisp. The earth rumbled, pieces of it falling or rising, crushing the attackers or swallowing them whole. The wind blew, shrieking and biting cold, as ice and snow swirled around in frantic patterns. Enemies freezing in place then bashed together and shattering as the wind blew them around. The few enemies that were able to make it through the front lines suddenly found themselves surrounded by darkness streaked with purple, then suddenly a bright harsh light would blind them. While they flailed around blindly, the shadow-made warriors, one-by-one, disintegrated. Through the darkness of Eva's elemental power, a gleaming golden sword or a pair of glowing silver and purple weapons darted around, cutting all of them down, keeping them from gaining any foothold on the wall.

Once all of the shadow enemies had vanished, Lizzy and Eva emerged from the gloom staring at the remaining army. The shadows swirling around her, shrinking and moving to reform her cloak, Eva mumbled something, too quiet for Lizzy to hear. Without taking her eyes from the battle field, Lizzy leaned her head to her sister.

"WHAT was that?" she half shouted.

"There are too many of them for us to take!" Eva said, louder than last time. Lizzy agreed then glanced up at James on the top of the wall. The Six teens atop the ramparts were focusing on pushing the enemy back. With a sudden rush of wind that countered Alex's winds, the shadow-created army was sucked back up into a cohesive whole, a cloud of blood red darkness that loomed like a malevolent storm overhead.

"James?" Lizzy called over her shoulder as she watched the unfolding events. Muttering to himself, James tried to decide what to do next. Next to him, Katie staggered as the feeling of impending doom and darkness threatened to over whelm them while down below Evangeline cried out before passing out. Making his decision quickly, James called down to Lizzy, telling her to get her sister back behind the wall.

"Come on guys, one last effort. Push him back far enough so we can get to the airship." He said to the other five on the wall, trying to rally them. Brianne, who was breathing heavily with her hands on her knees, pushed herself upright. Alex, who was already exhausted from powering the ice sled, was utterly spent, but he forced himself back to his feet, using the last of his strength for one last go. Dave was supporting Katie though he was losing strength fast. Mark was fading fast, fear adding to the drain on his powers. But nonetheless, the five teens put aside their exhaustion, their differences, their fear and stood straight and tall, staring up at the storm. The cloud shifted to form Makuta's Krahkan Mask, his blood red eyes glaring at them. Not a word was said, no taunts exchanged; the winds, both Alex's and the ones stirred by the darkness, died away. The silence was deafening. Moving in unison, the five on the wall raised their weapons in clear defiance of the darkness. Channeling the last of their energy, they focused their powers through their weapons and fired at Makuta. The five streams of elements joined to form one stream of energy, interlaced with the colors of the elements. The stream of energy slammed into Makuta's face rather than passing right through him; the amount of power shocked him. He had never thought that fleshlings could be so powerful. The power that he felt in them and their elemental energies was ancient, more ancient that he was. Still he pressed on, wanting to devour their power, their "good", turn them if he could, destroy them if he could not. Pain flooded him, but he had felt worse; it was an annoyance to him. He was stronger than ever, so such a paltry attack of combined elements could do him no lasting harm. Or so he thought. From behind the teens standing on the wall, from behind the wall itself, came another stream of energy, golden in color. It twined around the energy from the five and hit Makuta. Now it hurt worse and he fell back slightly. Makuta hated light; it hurt. It always did. Now it was in a concentrated beam and penetrating his very being. But it still could not deter him from continuing to attack. Finally, one last beam of pure energy joined the fray. It was glowing purple and felt like shadows, save it was kinder, gentler, but laced with pain, fear and anger. That final burst of energy is what finally finished it.

Makuta let out an echoing scream of wrath and pain. The feeling of good shadow energy was too much. He had never felt anything like the pain coming from seven combined elements. With one final explosion of power, Makuta was knocked completely unconscious and his mind was sealed temporarily. The explosion destroyed all traces of his storm-form. When the glare died away, the teens stood quietly for a moment. Then they quickly, turned and ran down the stairs and out the rear of the Great Temple, unaware that they had been granted a reprieve from Makuta's attacks and unaware of his mind being sealed. They all thought that he was merely defeated and would soon be hot on their heels chasing them all the way to Metru Nui.

The seven teens stumbled onto the small airship that remained for them to escape on. Lizzy was the first to board, setting the barely conscious Evangeline on a bunk in the middle of the cabin, and then the older sister hurried into the cockpit. She was surprised to see Tanma and Solek sitting at the controls, finishing the preflight checks.

Behind her, James, supporting Katie, was the last to board. Brianne and Mark helped a semiconscious Alex onto the bunk opposite Eva, while Dave ran to the front of the ship. Solek grinned up at the two shocked teens, while Tanma called for takeoff. James helped Katie up the ramp even as the craft left the ground and the ramp began to retract.

"Mr. Wizard, get us out of here!" He yelled to the front, as the automatic door slid shut behind him. HE gently set Katie in a chair and staggered to the front. Lizzy had pulled Tanma from the pilot's chair and was busy settling herself in. Next to her, Dave, though tired, was sliding in to the chair, taking Solek's place.

"What are you two doing here?" James asked incredulously. Solek shrugged.

"Well someone had to get this thing started in case you had to leave before prepping for takeoff." Tanma said, brushing past the teen leader and heading to the bay where the other five were.

Glancing back, Lizzy sighed, saying, "I'm not going to argue with them this time. It's not worth it." James nodded in agreement. Lizzy made a small adjustment to their course and looked, first at James, then at Dave. "I just realized something!" She exclaimed, her eyes wide with shock. "You both have your masks on!" Sure enough, Dave had his gleaming Norahki over his face, while James had a familiar Great Mask over his.

Reaching up and running a curious hand over it, James asked "What is it?"

"It's a Huna." Lizzy said softly, "The same as Vakama." Silence fell. Then Lizzy and Dave jumped to their feet as James spun on his heel. They all had had the same thought; if James had his, even though he had not figure out its power beforehand, then perhaps the others had theirs too. They burst into the back to see Katie looking at herself in a mirror, fascinated by the Komau resting over her face. Brianne turned to grin at the newly arrived team members, a Pakari glowing orange over her face. Mark was talking to Alex, who had the mask of Fate, called the Calix, on. It was the same as the one that Jaller Inika wore; only Alex's was not organic like Jaller's. Mark had an oddly shaped mask that Lizzy hadn't seen before; nor had any of the others ever seen it. Lizzy turned to her sister's bunk to see how she fared. The younger girl was staring at her knees. She looked up and met her sister's eyes, fear filling them. On her face, glowing purple was a mask of Shadows, only the angles on hers were softened and the edges more rounded that Makuta's. Lizzy grinned, her own mask shimmering into existence over her face. Reaching up, Lizzy pushed the mask until it rested on the top of her head like a hat. Eva giggled slightly at her sister. The others laughed at Lizzy, mostly because she looked rather ridiculous. From there the conversation strayed from topic to topic for hours.

****Later****

"There it is, Humans." Tanma said staring out the front window of the cockpit, "the island of Mata Nui."

"Wow." Katie whispered, awed.

"There are the other airships, Lizzy. Down there; land in the water." James said from the copilot's seat.

"Thank you, James. I Know." Lizzy said sarcastically, steering the airship toward the ground. The bottom of the ship splashed into the water and floated to the shore. Brianne laughed suddenly, causing the others to glance back at her. Still laughing, Brianne pointed behind her, to where Alex lay on the ground having forgotten to hold on to something solid as the aircraft landed in the water.

"Really, Alex?" Katie laughed.

The whole team shook their heads, as Alex shrugged and regained he footing.

The teens turned their attention back to the approaching shoreline. The Air Ship ran aground on the beach with a crunch and the front ramp extended. The doors opened and the eight teens followed the two Matoren down, shielding their eyes from the sudden brightness of the sun. Six short figures, all bearing staffs, stood waiting just beyond the bottom of the ramp. The teens walked down the ramp and onto the soft sands of the beaches of Ga-Koro.

"Welcome, young heroes." Spoke up one of the figures. "Welcome to Mata Nui. I am Turaga Vakama. We have been expecting you."

***End The Beginning***

**Katie: Please keep an eye out for the next installment of the Toa Rahini Chronicles: The Toa Rahini Chronicles: Rescue Mission. And if you are mad at Angel about the Beginning being ended, please be nice. If you must yell or complain or bitch at her, do it over PMs, not through Reviews.**

**A/N: I made some minor alterations on the advice of my Beta reader. See if you can spot them.**


	11. The Epilouge

**A/N: I apologize for what was said in the last chapter by some unruly characters. I had no idea that Lizzy would post the chapter on her own… I was still waiting for the Beta'ed version to come back. But NOOO! She wanted the update now!... grrrr… I'm still mad at her. **

**Anyways, barring any unpleasant interruptions *glances nervously at the door, which is chained shut* please enjoy the epilogue to The Toa Rahini Chronicles: The Beginning.**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own… *Sigh… oh well**

Epilogue

_Drip…_

_Drop…_

_Drip…_

_Drop… _

Gali Nuva woke to darkness surrounding her, unable to see around her. With a groan, she sat up, her yellow eyes blinking, adjusting.

"Sister! You are awake now!" a soft voice announced from behind her. Turning, Gali saw Lewa sitting some distance away from her, against a cold, dank stone wall. Around his feet and hands were cuffs and chains forged from the hardest protodermis known to Bionicle. Looking around, Gali spotted the other Toa Nuva, in varying states of consciousness, all similarly chained. A sudden feeling of overwhelming weakness washed over the Toa of Water as she instinctively reached for her elemental power. Reaching up her run her hands over her mask, Gali was shocked to find that her Great Mask of Water Breathing had been taken from her face. She then looked to her hands and feet, finding the same shackles on her as on her brothers. Across the room from her, Tahu looked up forlornly out of a window set high in the wall at a pale moon that shed light that filtered softly down. Kopaka and Onua, chained close together, were inspecting the craftsmanship of the chains to find a weakness (or so she hoped). Pohatu was just waking up, while Takanuva was still completely unconscious, stretched out on a slab of stone that served as a bed. At the far end of the room, out of reach of every Toa in the room, were the Masks and Tools of all seven of the Toa.

Kopaka looked up to see Gali gazing at her own mask.

"It would seem that once again, we are captured and deprived of our strength." He stated, referring to the six Nuva's time in the dungeons of the PIraka on Voya Nui. Onua nodded, along with Lewa who sighed softly.

"And at the most inopportune time as well." Tahu burst out with, his metal fist colliding with the wall as he released some pent up frustration. Sparks flew from the metal on stone contact and the other Toa winced at the sudden brilliance in the gloom of what could only be a dungeon. "Vakama said that the young ones, the Destiny Heroes were on their way. They NEED us."

"For what, Tahu?" Queried Lewa. Pohatu rolled his eyes.

"We have been over this." said the brown Toa, "They will need us to help teach them to master their powers for their mission to purge what the Turaga call 'the Plague'.

"Regardless of our intentions, it would seem that we are now unable to fulfill that mission. If anything, they will come and find us. Something tells me that part of their duty will be to free us and then destroy the Plague." Gali said softly.

The other Toa nodded, falling back into their own thoughts.

Turning back to the window high above his head, Tahu gazed up at the shrouded moon, as dark clouds crowded the sky, blocking out the moon's faint light.

_Hurry young ones, or there may not be any Toa Nuva to save. _ He thought, hoping that Gali was right.

Deep in the bowls of the fortress above the dungeons where the Toa Nuva were imprisoned, Shadows gave was to pure darkness. In a vast chamber filled with whispers of movement, a conclave was beginning.

Dim lights, colors of decay and death, glimmered faintly in the room, cast by the occupants seated in a circular manner. To one side of the circle, seated higher than the rest, was a light colored sickly yellow-orange. Above it flashed a pair of blood red eyes. The figure inhaled deeply, dark laughter welling up from his chest.

"Teridax has fallen once more, my brethren. And he has fallen to the hands of our old friend from the dawn of time. Let us welcome them back to the land of the living, and send them a gift."

The conclave shrouded in darkness let loose with shouts of laughter and jeers as in the center of the circle, a hologram of the Bionicle world shimmered into view showing the Island of Mata Nui in sharp relief. Eight dots pinged into existence, surrounded by six fainter dots.

Far below even the dungeons, a cage groaned open and a huge beast reveled in its new found freedom; freedom it had not tasted in many centuries.

**A/N: yes it's short, but it is for a reason… mostly just to set up the next part of the story… Please Review!**


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